mr. speaker , reclaiming my time , i think the gentleman is well aware that there is a crisis in america when it comes to the issue of protecting people 's pensions . 
and i think all of us on both sides of the aisle have a responsibility to work hard , to develop legislation that will , in fact , protect american workers and retirees in the pensions that they have been promised . 
over the last 5 or 6 years , i have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours meeting with stakeholders from companies that offer plans voluntarily to union members and others , trying to craft a bill . 
we have worked with members on both sides of the aisle in order to develop this legislation . 
so what are the goals here ? 
the goals here are , very simply , to make sure that those companies who offer defined benefit pension plans continue to keep them . 
secondly , for companies who make promises to their workers , there ought to be some insurance that they will keep the commitments that they have made to their workers . 
and , thirdly , to the pension benefit guaranty corporation that ensures that these pension payments will be made , we need to strengthen the financial condition at the pbgc to avert a possible taxpayer bailout in the future . 
what does this underlying bill do ? 
it will , in fact , ensure that there is more money contributed to these pension plans , whether it is restricting the use of credit balances , whether it is using a more accurate interest rate to determine what those obligations are , whether it is closing down the amount of averaging that goes on . 
there are a number of provisions that we will talk about when we get into this bill that will strengthen these pension plans by moving more money into them . 
the second part of this is to reduce the long-term exposure to the pension benefit guaranty corporation that is , in fact , facing a deficit . 
we not only increase premiums paid by employers to the pension benefit guaranty corporation as part of strengthening them ; but long term , by requiring companies to fully fund their plans at 100 percent , we will , in fact , reduce the exposure of the pbgc long term to a taxpayer bailout . 
now , we are going to hear a lot of debate today as this bill comes up from those who have their own views as to how this should work , and i would ask my colleagues let us not make perfect the enemy of the good . 
we have a very good , sound bill that we are bringing to the floor , supported by many employer groups , supported by virtually every major labor group in america as well . 
there is a finely tuned balance in this bill , and i do , in fact , believe that it will pass today with broad bipartisan support . 
now let me address one other issue . 
and that issue is the fact that there is no substitute today . 
as the gentleman knows , in the rules committee last night and in a letter to the rules committee yesterday , i asked them to make a substitute in order . 
there was a question posed to me last night about supporting such a measure . 
and i said i would support not only amendments , but also a substitute as long as it did not contain tax issues in there that were unrelated or dealt with the tax side of this bill . 
i do not know whether the substitute had these or not . 
but all i can say is that there is no one in this house who has argued more for a fair , open debate than i have . 
i have been in the minority . 
i have been in your position . 
i have made the arguments that you are making , and i do believe that when we stymie debate in the house , we short circuit our constitutional responsibilities . 
i am sorry there is not a substitute here . 
i am not sure why , but i am sure there are very good reasons . 
whether there are tax issues involved in what you were offering , i do not know . 
but the fact is that it is a good underlying bill . 
we are going to have a very healthy debate about it today . 
and i would urge my colleagues , on behalf of american workers , that we have a responsibility to pass this bill now . 
is it perfect ? 
i am sure it is not , but i do believe when this bill passes here today with bipartisan support , we will get to a conference with the senate where we will hammer out the differences between the house and senate bill . 
but the longer this house waits to move this bill , the longer we make arguments , that we make perfect the enemy of the good , the more we are jeopardizing the retirement security of american workers . 
and i believe that we have to act now , get ourselves to conference , and get a bill passed that brings comprehensive reform to our pension laws . 
