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Washington, DC – U.S. Rep. Brian Babin (TX-36) today introduced the State and Local Pensions Accountability and Security Act, which will protect taxpayers by prohibiting the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve from offering any sort of bailout to a state or local government pension system.  Rep. Tom McClintock (CA-04), the leading voice for fiscal responsibility in the Golden State, joined Rep. Babin as the bill’s lead co-sponsor.  The legislation was originally authored as H.R. 1476 in the 114^th Congress (2015-2016) by Rep. Babin as his very first bill.

“With the election of President Donald Trump and a strong Republican majority in Congress, it’s a new day in Washington, DC.” said Rep. Babin. “We need to send the message to municipal and local governments, many of which are plagued by mismanagement and outright corruption, that they should not expect the American taxpayers to bail out their pension and retirement systems.  They have a duty to fulfill the promises they have made to their employees and should not be expecting responsible Americans to bail them out.  

“Preserving the option for the federal government to do that will only encourage these officials to make poor decisions.  Passage of our legislation will send a strong message to these state, municipal and local governments that they must get their own fiscal house in order by making the tough decisions to put these systems on sound footing.  By foreclosing the option of a taxpayer bailout, we are taking a positive step to put these pension plans on solid footing.”