mr. speaker , i rise again in support of this important legislation .  i wanted to get down to this , well , to kind of deal with some specifics as to why it is important that we move this bill on over into conference .  first of all , this is a comprehensive pension reform bill that will protect workers ' retirement incomes .  it will give companies a longer window to make underfunded plans whole , and it will help protect u.s. taxpayers from taking on the liability associated with future plan terminations .  as i mentioned before , delta airlines employs thousands of men and women in my district , and other airlines , in many of your districts throughout this country , rely now or plan to rely in whole or in part on retirement benefits provided by delta .  without a change in current law , that will allow delta and other airline carriers that have defined benefit plans and obligations , like northwest , continental and american , to make their pension payments over a longer period of time , 20 years , then it is a certainty that some or all of these plans will be terminated .  benefits will be reduced , and liabilities will be shifted to the taxpayer .  we have an opportunity with this vehicle today to make sure that does not happen .  we do not need to extend this liability over to the taxpayers .  these employers and airline carriers want to honor their obligations , their pensions , but they need our help .  they need to be equipped with the tools just to have a fighting chance to do so .  mr. speaker , let us give our airlines this fighting chance .  i know that is not the main item on the agenda , but this is the only vehicle we have that we can use in conference to fix the situation .  i urge members to give us a chance so we can help a very important industry .  