Cite as: 513 U. S. 414 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
made on the "first day" of the year following withdrawal demonstrates that the debt must be treated as if it arose at that time. The Plan's contrary reading of the statute cannot be easily reconciled with statutory provisions permitting an employer to pay the amount owed in a lump sum and thereby avoid paying amortization interest, § 1399(c)(4), and defining a withdrawing employer's basic liability without reference to interest during the withdrawal year, §§ 1381(b)(1), 1391. Pp. 422-425. (b) The several arguments of the Plan and its amici—(1) that allowing a withdrawing employer to avoid interest during the withdrawal year works against the statute's basic objective of requiring the employer to pay a fair share of the plan's underfunding; (2) that the statute's language actually favors calculating interest from the last day of the plan year before withdrawal; and (3) that the legislative history demonstrates that Congress expressly rejected the idea of a "funding gap" between the valuation date at the end of the plan year before withdrawal and the beginning of the year following withdrawal—are not persuasive. Pp. 425-430.
3 F. 3d 994, affirmed.
Breyer, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
Michael G. Bruton argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Neil K. Quinn, Robert Marc Chemers, and Mary Anne H. Capron.
Richard K. Willard argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Sara E. Hauptfuehrer, James W. Greer, and David C. Hertel.*
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.
The Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 (MPPAA), 94 Stat. 1208, 29 U. S. C. §§ 1381-1461, provides that an employer who withdraws from an underfunded multi-employer pension plan must pay a charge sufficient to cover that employer's fair share of the plan's unfunded liabilities. The statute permits the employer to pay that charge in lump
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the Central States Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund by Thomas C. Nyhan and Terence G. Craig; and for the National Coordinating Committee for Multi-employer Plans by K. Peter Schmidt and Philip W. Horton.
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