Chair Cassidy Delivers Remarks During Hearing on Strengthening Americans’ Retirement, Examining the Railroad Retirement Board

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, delivered remarks during today's hearing on how Congress can learn from the success of the Railroad Retirement Board to strengthen the American retirement system.

Click here to watch the full hearing.

Cassidy's speech as prepared for delivery can be found below:

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will please come to order.

I want to start off today highlighting that this is a bipartisan hearing. These witnesses were selected together. I want to thank Senator Sanders for his engagement and willingness to engage in such a process on such an important topic: retirement.

Nearly every American wants to retire, for as many reasons as there are Americans.

We want to retire so bad that we agree to have money taken out of our paychecks and put aside so one day we can retire.

So, if we are already paying for it, why can't we afford it?

As Chair of this committee, I'm committed to making sure retirement isn't some far off dream, but that its reality for every Louisianan, for every American.

Senator Tim Kaine and I already have several bills in the works, but there is more to do.

As we look to strengthen the American retirement system, it is important to look at that which has worked. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel, if there is already a track record of success.

The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) works. It's truly solvent, successfully providing a wide range of benefits to rail workers and their families, including retirement, survivor, disability, unemployment, sickness, and vested dual benefits.

But it wasn't always the case.

In 2001, the RRB had over $34 billion in unfunded liabilities by private sector standards. Too few workers supporting too many retirees. Lots of systems have that problem now.

But, in 2001 Congress formed a trust for the RRB which resembled that of a private sector pension plan. By subjecting this trust to robust fiduciary standards akin to what is expected in the private sector, Congress ensured money was invested with the best interest of beneficiaries in mind. It took the power of the economy and brought the benefits to hard-working Americans who would not typically invest in the stock market.

This reform had broad bipartisan support. Every Democrat in the Senate voted for it. And many of my colleagues who voted for it in 2001 are still in Congress today; Senators Susan Collins, Mike Crapo, Dick Durbin, Chuck Grassley, Lisa Murkowski, Patty Murray, Jack Reed, Chuck Schumer, Mark Warner, and Ron Wyden.

And I will admit, the few that opposed it are all Republicans.

This is an agency supported by Congress, employers, unions, and workers.

That's what we should be striving for in every aspect of this committee's work. Bipartisan agreement around solutions that deliver results for workers and families.

As of September 2024, the RRB trust held $28.6 billion in assets, compared with $27.6 billion in liabilities. These returns enabled Congress to lower the payroll tax on employers and provide a lower retirement age to workers than Social Security without harming the overall solvency of the program. The RRB trust charges fees lower than most private sector funds.

Modeled after pension investment funds, which is how every major corporation successfully plans for their employees' retirements, the Railroad Retirement Board's trust fund is predicted to continue running smoothly and solvently for another 75 years. It's the gold standard for sustainability.

Investing in the power of the U.S. economy to produce returns for the family relying on that income.

We spend so much time in DC talking about what doesn't work. It becomes about all the problems and all the barriers to solving them. It turns out, when we focus on things that do work, it opens the door for problem solving and collaboration we previously thought was not possible.

Let's apply the lessons from the Railroad Retirement Board to one more time come up with a retirement system that works for employers, unions, the ununionized, and workers.

I thank our witnesses for being here and look forward to hearing their first-hand accounts of RRB's positive impact.

With that, I recognize Senator Sanders.

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