STEVE INSKEEP, host: The business news starts with the trouble in airline pensions.  Two major      airlines told Congress yesterday they might go bankrupt if they cannot      put off contributions to their pension plans.  NPR's Frank Langfitt      reports.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: FRANK LANGFITT reporting:</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: When United Airlines went bankrupt, its pension plan was underfunded by      nearly $10 billion.  The government's pension insurer, the Pension      Benefit Guaranty Corporation, or PBGC, took over the carrier's      obligations.  But more companies are underfunding their pensions and the      PBGC is running $23 billion in the red.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: Republican Senator Chuck Grassley chairs the Senate Finance Committee.      At a hearing, he said Congress has to reform the funding rules.  He said      the current system allows companies to make their pension plans appear      stronger than they really are.</s>Senator CHUCK GRASSLEY (Republican, Iowa): As the stock market plummeted      in 2000, 2001, 2002, United used the techniques to make their pension      plans look like the late '90s stock market boom had never ended.  This      meant that the plans were not only deteriorating rapidly, it also meant      that United was not required to make additional contributions because on      paper, everything looked OK.</s>LANGFITT: But airlines like Delta and Northwest want to pay less now and      extend payments into the future.</s>LANGFITT: Competition in the airline industry is brutal.  The carriers told      Grassley's committee that forcing them to pay now could push them over      the edge.  Douglas Steenland is Northwest's president.</s>Mr. DOUGLAS STEENLAND (President, Northwest Airlines): Today Northwest      and other airlines' defined benefit plans are in critical condition.  As      you know, both United and US Airways have already terminated their      defined benefit plans in bankruptcy and transferred them to the PBGC.      Absent immediate action by the Congress, the defined benefit plans at      Northwest and at other carriers may very well suffer the same fate.</s>LANGFITT: The Bush administration is pressing to make companies pay more      into their pension plans earlier.  Congress is expected to take up the      legislation soon.</s>LANGFITT: Frank Langfitt, NPR News.
Delta and Northwest airlines have told Congress that their pension-contribution obligations could drive them into bankruptcy. But some senators want to tighten funding rules that have allowed companies to avoid contributions and underfund their pensions by billions of dollars.