From Reuters.com: “Airline fight complicates US Senate pension bill.” Excerpt:
Action has stalled on private pension reform legislation in the U.S. Senate while lawmakers try to resolve a dispute about special aid for troubled airlines, a senator and aides said on Tuesday.Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said he placed a “hold” — a procedural maneuver blocking action — on the pension reform bill that might otherwise have moved to the Senate floor this week, until the argument over airline aid is resolved.
Cornyn said he acted after American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp., and Continental Airlines complained about a provision that would allow bankrupt competitors to postpone payments to their pension plans for many years.
“They (Continental and American) felt the proposal put them at a competitive disadvantage and actually punished them for doing what we would all hope airlines do, and that is avoid bankruptcy,” Cornyn told Reuters outside the Senate.
UPDATE: See also this article from The Hill: “Chairmen scrap for upper hand with pension reform.”