{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/brown-highlights-provision-of-spending-bill-to-make-improvements-to-american-airlines-retirees-savings-", "Brown Highlights Provision of Spending Bill to Make Improvements to American Airlines Retirees’ Savings", "2015-12-18", "2015", "2015-12", "Democrat", "House", "OH", "Sherrod Brown", "B000944", "www.brown.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Friday, December 18, 2015\n            \n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON, D.C.  U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today highlighted a provision to the year-end spending bill that will improve the savings opportunities available to American Airlines retirees. Last year, Brown and U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) drafted legislation that became law to enable nearly 100,000 American Airline employees who received lump sum settlements as part of the airlines 2011 bankruptcy to roll those awards into individual retirement accounts (IRA). Without a legislative fix, nearly 10,000 Ohio workers would be ineligible for the same tax benefits on savings plans that workers at United, Delta, Northwest, and U.S. Airways received.\r\nLast year, we fixed the law to ensure that American Airlines employees wouldnt lose their retirement savings because of the companys bankruptcy, said Brown. A provision in this years omnibus bill builds on that work by making needed adjustments and improvements to their savings opportunities.\r\nTheWorker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008allowed employees of air service providers, who filed bankruptcy prior to 2007, to roll up to 90 percent of airline bankruptcy settlements into an individual retirement account without paying tax penalties through April 15, 2013. American Airlines did not declare bankruptcy until Nov. 29, 2011, and had not yet emerged from bankruptcy by April 15, 2013.\r\nBy making modifications to theFederal Aviation Modernization and Reform Act of 2012,H.R. 2591 affords American Airlines employees the option to roll over bankruptcy contributions into individual retirement accounts without tax penalties, which is the same treatment extended to employees of other domestic airlines that went bankrupt prior to 2008.\r\n\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tPress Contact\n\t\t\t\t\tLauren Kulik/Rachel Petri(202) 224-3978", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/brown-highlights-provision-of-spending-bill-to-make-improvements-to-american-airlines-retirees-savings-"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0089620482176542, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}