John Boehner is an Ohio Republican who served as a US representative (1991-2015) and as House speaker (2011-15). Joe Crowley is a New York Democrat who served as a US representative (1999-2019) and House Democratic Caucus Chairman (2017-2019). The opinions expressed in this commentary are their own.

Few have seen firsthand the frustration of Washington gridlock and partisanship more than we have. We know all too well when something doesn't get fixed in D.C., it can end up hurting people back home. When it comes to the multiemployer pension plan crisis, the effects are already real.

Millions of retirees and workers are at risk of losing their multiemployer pension benefits because their plans are forecasted to become insolvent in the near future . This would lead to these retirees receiving just a portion of their pensions. Today's crisis also puts this country on the trajectory toward a systemwide collapse, and the elimination of billions in retirement dollars and tens of thousands of jobs.

The impetus for today's crisis is the result of a number of factors — from shrinking union membership, to changes in regulatory policies and the stock market losses during the Great Recession. In addition, some employers in multiemployer pension plans have gone bankrupt, forcing the employers that remain to assume financial responsibility for the bankrupt employer's former workers, or "orphan participants."

Inaction leaves Americans out to dry: the widowed grandmother whose financial stability depends on her husband's pension, the aunt and uncle who rely on their pensions after health problems forced early retirement, and young new employees, excited about their first job, but scared they may never see retirement benefits.

As former congressmen from New York and Ohio, this is a near and dear issue to both of us. A number of plans in our home states have been faced with an impossible choice — drastically cut benefits to stay afloat or collapse entirely. Just ask the thousands of beneficiaries who have already experienced their plans falling apart and were forced to accept steep pension cuts. This includes people in New York, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Oregon, just to name a few.