Federal Retirement Plans Underfunded

While the federal government has pressured corporations to fully fund their pension plans, it has allowed the retirement programs for federal civilian and military employees to become underfunded by more than $1 trillion, pension experts said.

The underfunding is a taxpayer obligation that is not reflected in federal deficit figures. Federal employees in the future could face reductions in cost-of-living allowances and other pension benefits.

The government today will release a list of the nation’s worst pension offenders, companies that have promised employees billions of dollars more in pensions than they have set aside to pay for them.