Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- A trade group whose members include Lockheed Martin Corp., Dow Chemical Co. and General Motors Corp. is pressing Congress to help close a record $200 billion deficit in U.S. pensions created by this month's global stock-market collapse.

The Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Assets is kicking off a lobbying effort today to delay provisions of the Pension Protection Act that it says will force companies to drain cash flow to comply with funding rules set to take effect next year.

``This will be real money that companies will have to come up with,'' said Judy Schub, managing director of the Bethesda, Maryland-based group, which represents 110 of the nation's largest retirement plans holding almost half of U.S. assets. ``The law will be forcing people to be taking money out of operations at the worst possible time.''