I'm not up to date with the nuance of the US pension system, but this article seems highly loaded:

> For decades, conservative governors and state legislators [...] have worked to undermine public employee pensions.

> Last year, as the Covid-19 pandemic raged, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denied governors’ appeals for federal emergency aid because he saw an opportunity to punish states for their pension debts.

And so forth. Granted, I don't know the history behind all of this, but even with the benefit of the doubt these seem very stark takes without any additional context.