WATCH: Biden delivers remarks in Philadelphia on protecting union workers’ pensions

Days ahead of the 2024 election, President Joe Biden highlighted the benefits of the Butch Lewis Act in Philadelphia on Friday, as “the most significant investment of pension security for union workers and retirees in over 50 years.”

Watch Biden’s remarks in the player above.

Democrats are keen to remind union voters in Pennsylvania that pensions for many workers have been preserved as part of a coronavirus pandemic-era aid package that keeps on giving.

“We’ve already protected the pension over 1.2 million workers and retirees,” Biden said. “That includes over 65,000 workers and retirees across Pennsylvania alone.”

The law, enacted as part of Biden’s American Rescue Plan, will ultimately stop cuts to the retirement benefits of 2 million workers and retirees across the country.

It is named after a retired Ohio trucker and Teamsters union leader who spent the last years of his life fighting to prevent massive cuts to the Teamsters’ Central States Pension Fund. It set up a special financial assistance program that allows struggling multi-employer pension plans to apply for assistance from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a federal agency that protects the retirement incomes of workers in defined benefit pension plans.

After delivering his remarks, Biden presented Butch Lewis’ widow, Rita Lewis, with the Presidential Citizens Medal on behalf of her late husband.

The Butch Lewis Act is designed to ultimately stall the insolvency of roughly 200 multi-employer pension plans for 30 years. Many workers were facing cuts to their benefits of up to 50%, which would have caused massive economic damage to more than 2 million retired and retiring Americans.

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump picked up some blue-collar workers in his 2016 win and this year is looking to exploit a divide between union leaders who have backed Democratic candidates and rank-and-file members who could be swayed to vote Republican.

Rita Lewis, Butch Lewis’ widow, told The Associated Press that before the act passed, union retirees she knew were talking about having to sell their house and live with their kids.

Lewis, who lives in West Chester, Ohio, and receives a restored income from her late husband’s pension, said that she plans to vote for Biden in November because he kept his promise to workers.