Sen. Bob Casey speaks at an event announcing ARPA funds for members of the Bakery and Confectionery Union June 21, 2024 (Capital-Star photo by Ian Karbal)
HERSHEY — Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) joined members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco workers and Grain Millers International Union in Hershey on Friday to celebrate American Rescue Plan funds finally being distributed to shore up their pensions.
While his appearance was a victory lap for a piece of legislation he helped cross the finish line, it was also an opportunity to remind voters during an election season of a key Democratic win, and to draw contrast with Republicans.
“Usually what Republicans do is, when there’s an opportunity, they vote for big companies and the very rich,” Casey said at the 464 union hall. “We want to provide an opportunity for us to keep our promise to those who work so hard for those pensions.”
The funding came from a provision of the 2021 American Rescue Plan that Casey and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown championed in particular. Ultimately, around $34 billion will go to union pension funds facing shortfalls across the country.
The funds Casey announced were distributed to the Bakery and Confectionery Union and will reach around 103,000 workers and retirees across the country. Roughly 6,700 are Pennsylvanians. The distribution also marked roughly the one millionth worker’s pension aided by the federal funds.
The American Rescue Plan Act, as Casey was keen to point out, was passed without a single Republican vote.
The $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, which was passed while much of the country remained in lockdown during the COVID pandemic, drew strong Republican opposition at the time.
Former Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who retired from the Senate in 2023, called the many-faceted stimulus package “a colossal waste and economically harmful”
The pension provision, in particular, drew the scrutiny of certain Republicans, who saw it as a bailout for unions whose funds had been running dry long before the pandemic.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa.), who had made previous failed efforts to address the pension crisis in 2021 called the American Rescue Plan’s pension provision a “blank check, with no measures to hold mismanaged plans accountable.”
But for Casey and the union workers who joined him, the bill was a success. The money received by the Bakery and Confectionery workers union is intended guarantee their workers’ pensions until 2051. Previously, they had faced a shortfall of 45% by 2031, according to White House American Rescue Plan coordinator Gene Sperling.
“Every worker in Pennsylvania should be voting for Biden and Casey,” said Anthony Shelton, president of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco workers and Grain Millers International Union.
Casey believes that in order to win the election, it takes reminders like Friday’s of the ways Democratic policies have helped voters.
“Unless we tell people what is happening when legislation is passed, people aren’t going to know what happened,” Casey told reporters after the event. “I want to do as many of these events as we can to celebrate and lift up that this is a win for workers.”
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