mr. speaker , we offer this motion to recommit to address a number of issues that are not addressed in the legislation before us and to hopefully not do some of the things that the legislation before us does .  we believe that we can do these things without driving employers out of the defined benefit system .  the current bill before us provides a compilation of interest rates and premium fees and costs that we believe will drive employers to accelerate the termination and freezing of these plans .  that is not because we say it ; that is what the employers have told one another in their associations , the expectation that some 60 percent of the employers will freeze or terminate their plans .  we believe that our motion to recommit does not impose arbitrary benefit cuts and freezes on workers who do not control whether or not the employers fund the pension plans or not .  the motion to recommit would require companies to seek alternatives to the termination and prove that a plan is in fact unaffordable before they can cast it away in bankruptcy , as we saw united airlines do , that cost the employees billions of dollars in pension benefits .  importantly , the motion to recommit would actually help the employees of american , continental , delta and northwest airlines , whose pension plans are in danger of being terminated .  the bill before us does not do that .  it talks about doing that in the future .  the motion to recommit would also protect 9 million workers who are covered by multi-employer pension plans in the construction , food service and transportation industries .  we would ensure that workers and executives would be affected equally in pension plans .  again , the horrible demonstration out of united airlines , as the executives walked away with $ 235 million in a new , debt-free company and the employees walked away with wage cuts and benefits cuts and the loss of retirement benefits .  finally , the motion to recommit would help workers who do not have access to defined benefit plans through the automatic enrollment in 401 ( k ) plans and the expanded savers credit .  this legislation , if it is not corrected , is the greatest assault on the pension benefits and the retirement nest eggs of hardworking , middle class americans in the history of this congress .  i say that because it is quite clear that this will expedite and will accelerate the freezing and the termination of these plans that so many millions of americans are relying on .  one thing this legislation will do , if you want to continue to debate social security , you will now prove with the passage of this legislation that social security is the most secure retirement system in this country , that it is the only one that people can count on , because these other plans are in jeopardy .  