House committee clears pension fix bill

The House Government Reform Committee Wednesday approved a bill to fix pension mistakes for thousands of federal employees.

The Federal Retirement Coverage Corrections Act, H.R. 416, now goes to the House floor for a vote. The House passed an identical bill last year, but the Senate didn't act on it.

Up to 20,000 federal employees have been placed in the wrong retirement system since the government began its transition from the Civil Service Retirement System to the Federal Employees Retirement System in 1984. Affected employees often learn that their pensions will be substantially smaller than what they had anticipated.

Last year a separate version of the bill was introduced in the Senate. The Senate version is backed by the Office of Personnel Management, though most affected employees prefer the House version.