Department of Energy Contractor Employee Equitable Treatment Act of 2006

Department of Energy Contractor Employee Equitable Treatment Act of 2006 - Prohibits any funds from being expended to implement, administer, or enforce the guidance of the Department of Energy (DOE) relating to contractor employee pension and medical benefits policy. (DOE will no longer reimburse contractors for new employees' pension and medical costs under defined benefit plans, but will now reimburse only such costs under defined contribution, market-based plans that vary from the average cost of such market-based plans by no more than 5%.) Requires the Secretary of Energy to: (1) withdraw such guidance not later than one day after enactment of this Act; and (2) reinstate eligibility or reimbursement for benefits or reinstate reimbursement for benefits if the Secretary has acted on such guidance.

[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5362 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5362

 To ensure the equitable provision of pension and medical benefits to 
               Department of Energy contractor employees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 11, 2006

Mr. George Miller of California (for himself, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Dingell, 
 Mr. Andrews, Mr. Levin, Mr. Stark, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. 
 Pomeroy, Mr. Strickland, Mr. McDermott, and Ms. Bean) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
                             the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To ensure the equitable provision of pension and medical benefits to 
               Department of Energy contractor employees.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Energy Contractor 
Employee Equitable Treatment Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) employment-based pension and medical benefits are 
        critical elements to the retirement security and state of 
        health of working Americans;
            (2) the Department of Energy, through the guidance of the 
        Department of Energy relating to contractor employee pension 
        and medical benefits policy (Notice DOE N 351.1 (April 27, 
        2006)) (referred to in this Act as ``Notice DOE N 351.1''), 
        indicated the intent of the Department to cease funding for 
        future defined benefit pension benefits and to undermine the 
        medical benefits for contractor employees;
            (3) those policies attack the retirement security and 
        medical benefits of workers employed in the defense of the 
        United States, including the manufacturing and testing of 
        nuclear weapons;
            (4) those policies also undermine the ability of employers 
        to provide appropriate and adequate retirement and medical 
        benefits;
            (5) defined benefit pension plans have a demonstrated 
        ability to provide retirement benefits that are adequate to 
        supplement retiree incomes, based on lifetime income needs, 
        with protection for surviving spouses;
            (6) market-based medical benefit plans encourage employers 
        to shift rising health care costs onto employees, lowering 
        employee wages without addressing the underlying problem of 
        skyrocketing health care costs; and
            (7) the Federal Government should foster employment 
        policies that provide adequate retirement, health, and other 
        employment benefits to the Federal and contractor workforce.

SEC. 3. GUIDANCE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY RELATING TO CONTRACTOR 
              EMPLOYEE PENSION AND MEDICAL BENEFITS POLICY.

    (a) In General.--No funds made available before, on, or after the 
date of enactment of this Act shall be expended to implement, 
administer, or enforce the guidance of the Department of Energy 
relating to contractor employee pension and medical benefits policy 
(Notice DOE N 351.1 (April 27, 2006)) (and any successor guidance), or 
any of the practices described in the guidance.
    (b) Withdrawal.--Not later than 1 day after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall withdraw the guidance 
described in subsection (a).
    (c) Reinstatement of Benefit Eligibility.--If the Secretary has 
carried out Notice DOE N 351.1 (and any successor guidance) before the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall reinstate 
eligibility for benefits or reinstate reimbursement for benefits, as 
appropriate, in effect as of January 1, 2006, as if Notice DOE N. 351.1 
(and any successor guidance) had not been promulgated or carried out.
                                 <all>