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Per Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Senate Republicans are open to beginning a negotiation with House Democrats on a plan that could prevent the insolvency of pension plans covering millions of workers. Portman says that he and other members of the Senate Finance Committee are interested in beginning talks with House Democrats to reconcile their proposal to address multiemployer pension reform with a plan Democrats inserted into H.R. 6800 that passed the House in mid-May Of note: "I think there is an opportunity here for us to come together," Portman says in outlining an approach to reaching a deal on the matter this year Portman says the House plan as written is a "nonstarter" with the Senate but still reflects more openness to Senate pension proposals than previously The pension provision in the HEROES Act "has many similarities" structure-wise to Senate plans; "Let's build on those," he said in remarks on the Senate floor Portman said he and Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown back a plan using a framework developed by a joint House-Senate committee in the last Congress NOTE: Senate is expected to take up its own new economic stimulus when lawmakers return from an extended break July 20. --BNA