Atlanta Journal Constitution
August 5, 2006

Isakson's star rises with pension deal
By Marilyn Geewax

Late Thursday night, the Senate was on the verge of heading home for a monthlong recess after another contentious and nonproductive day.

But in the final moments, one bill sailed through: an overhaul of pension rules that included special relief for financially troubled airlines such as Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines.

The staff of Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who spent months piloting the airline provision through unpredictable attacks and backroom deals, shot off e-mails with his prepared statement: "I am extremely pleased that the Senate has passed this bill."

To say the least.

Isakson not only had won pension-payment relief for Delta, but also had greatly boosted his profile on Capitol Hill. Though he has been in the Senate just 19 months, he now has a reputation as a wily legislator and savvy salesman.

In an interview in his Senate office Friday, Isakson recounted his legislative adventure.

In the final days before the vote, "I started going door to door" on Capitol Hill looking for opponents who had placed "holds" on the bill to block action.

"I tried to open a dialogue," he said. "Slowly, each one dropped their holds."

In the end, the pension bill passed 93-5 with both Democrat and Republican praise.

Praise from Delta

Edward Bastian, chief financial officer for Delta, said Friday the vote came as time was running out for Delta to preserve the pensions of 91,000 workers and retirees.

The new law will allow Delta to stretch out payments to its underfunded pension plans over 17 years, making the size of each payment more affordable. "With the legislation approved, we will be able to retain those plans," he said.

Isakson "is a real hero in this," Bastian said. "It looked like a very, very difficult road with a lot of twists ... but he was firm and unwavering."

The legislative process that led to pension reform was uglier and meaner than usual.

For years, Congress has been trying to update rules governing pensions. But negotiations continually bogged down over details.

In late July, the 907-page Pension Protection Act of 2006 finally was ready for a vote. Then, suddenly, the deal was off as Republican leaders shuffled the deck again.

They stripped the pension bill of an attractive feature: a package of extensions for popular tax breaks. The "sweeteners" were switched to another bill to reduce taxes on inheritances, and House Republicans boycotted a meeting of Senate and House lawmakers called to discuss the change.

That so enraged the usually soft-spoken Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), an author of the bill, that he shouted during the public meeting that he had been "knifed in the back!"

Throughout the yelling and double-crossing, Isakson remained focused, continually pushing for passage of the bill and inclusion of special relief for Delta and Northwest, another airline in bankruptcy.

He knew chances for success in the Senate were slim, especially for a newly elected senator with only 19 months' service. Lawmaking is "a game with no rules, no boundaries, no penalties and no clock," Isakson said.

Even worse, Senate and House Republican leaders opposed special consideration for airlines, and the White House threatened to veto any bill that included airline aid.

Editorials in both The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post urged Congress to drop the airline aid.

Undeterred despite foes

Isakson said he wasn't deterred. Since joining the Senate in January 2005, he said, he has been interested in fixing the pension insurance system because he feared it was following the path of the savings-and-loan insurance system.

During his career selling real estate in the Atlanta area, Isakson said he could see the S&L industry's rules were outdated. But Congress failed to update them quickly enough to stop an industry collapse and an expensive taxpayer bailout in the 1980s.

He wanted to prevent similar mistakes with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal agency that insures traditional pension plans.

Isakson not only was eager to pass a bill requiring companies to fund 100 percent of their pension promises, up from 90 percent, he also wanted to stop more airlines from defaulting on their pensions, as United Airlines and US Airways already had done.

Isakson built support for his plan by wooing potential allies, such as Norm Coleman, a Republican from Northwest's home state of Minnesota, and Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky, where many of Delta's Cincinnati-based workers live.

When the House passed its version, it refused to attach an airline amendment. But in the Senate, the Isakson-led coalition secured the amendment on a voice vote.

In early March, House and Senate negotiators began meeting to iron out differences between the bills. Isakson talked his way into a seat at the bargaining table.

Opposition came both from lawmakers who did not want any industry to get special help, and from those who represent states with airlines that compete with Delta and Northwest.

In the end, even though the tax "sweeteners" were never restored, the pension bill passed overwhelmingly.

Isakson said that after the vote, he went straight back to his Capitol Hill area apartment and celebrated — by doing his laundry. He did not want to leave dirty clothes behind for a month.

"So as I was putting coins in the machine, I had a gin and tonic in the laundry room," he said.