Whacker77,
Disclosure- The congressional ruling cost me the left seat.
Factually, Congress steamrolled this event. Unions could and did weigh in on opinion. (ALPA did, some chose to stay neutral).
To blame the senior ALPA union leadership is easy flamebait, certainly plays well to us more junior pilots. However, objectively, if you study the history of worldwide airline retirement age, it was clear the U.S. congress was going to change the age by congressional action.
You are right, this was all discussed more than is useful over the last 22 months. The congressional law cost me significantly, but cannot blame 'over 60' pilots any more than I blame them for the worldwide economic mess.