Masonry Magazine January 1971 Page. 39
Washington Wire
(Continued from page 19)
CONGRESS IS LIKELY TO APPROVE LEGISLATION to regulate pensions plans further in 1971. Various agencies are now readying a series of proposals. Several Congressional committees, after many years of debate, are now about ready to move. The drive could be one of the big issues of the coming year.
Legislation will set standards for fund administrators, at the least. It will also require detailed disclosure of the operations of the plans. Salary payments to fund employees by companies or unions will be prohibited. Also forbidden will be a wide range of conflict-of-interest transactions. Each pension fund will be required to provide detailed reports to the U.S. Labor Department about its investment portfolio.
Officials are also looking at "vesting" provisions including the "portability" of benefits, job to job, a controversial area. Some also wonder if funds should be forced to invest some assets in socially desirable programs, like housing.
THE FIRST RISE IN DEFENSE SPENDING in three years will be included in the new budget the President will be sending along to Congress soon. He will cite growing Soviet threats around the world, the possibility that the Russians' strength will soon exceed America's, and the need for new weapons. The fact that higher outlays will help spur the economy is not being ignored.
A step-up will run into stiff opposition on Capitol Hill-especially in the Senate. After all, Congress did cut the Pentagon's budget this year. But Russia's growing position in the Middle East disturbs many. Besides, the three-vote, liberal-to-conservative shift in the Senate as a result of the November elections may now give the President the edge.
THE NEW CONGRESS THAT CONVENES IN JANUARY may bring a slightly more conservative Senate, but the House will probably be more liberal-showing a tendency to reverse the roles of the session just ending. For one thing, there are 9 more Democrats many replacing conservatives. For another, the new speaker-Carl Albert of Oklahoma intends to build the young, reformist members of the party into an activist power base. This implies more push behind bills on pollution, civil rights, medical insurance, and spending.
THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSONNEL PROBLEMS facing American industry over the next five years will center in government regulations and changes in the type of worker entering the labor force. That's the conclusion that emerges from a study recently completed by the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.
Specificially, the study found that regulations including the civil rights and sex-equality laws will require major readjustments in hiring, training, and promotion policies. Other problems will include drug use by younger employees, growing labor conflict involving young militants, and the acceptance of more permissive standards of employee conduct.
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masonry
January, 1971
MULLER
TRADE MARK
39