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“After years of my advocacy on this issue, Chairman Bobby Scott initiated a GAO Report in 2019 that is meant to be a prospective and comprehensive look at similarly situated “church plans” to assess the fiscal health of such plans nationwide and to inform Congress should we consider future potential legislative efforts to prevent another tragedy like St. Clare’s. I wholeheartedly support this effort and I look forward to reviewing the results when GAO completes its work.

“However, to be clear, this report is not in any way a solution to the current crisis faced by St. Clare’s pensioners. Because the plan sponsors made the regrettable decision to opt-out of federal pension protections, there is simply not a pathway for a federal solution to this problem.

“The solution to this challenge rests, as it always has, between the of state of New York and the Albany diocese, and I would urge those in positions of power in both institutions to work on providing real relief for the St. Clare’s pensioners that includes examining the years of missed payments by the plan sponsor and the conditions of the State’s forced merger plan in 2008.”