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White House Directs Agencies to Review PBGC-Trusteed Pension Plans

Government Affairs

President Trump on Oct. 22 issued a memorandum directing the heads of three departments to review pension plans the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) holds in trusteeship. 

The impetus for the memo was the pension plan serving retirees of the Delphi Corporation, but also concerns retirees other vulnerable pension plans cover. “It is the policy of the United States to support America’s workers, regardless of union affiliation, to protect the pensions of hardworking Americans, and to ensure that America is a global powerhouse of manufacturing and industry,” the memo says.

“For years, Delphi Corporation was a fixture in the United States automobile manufacturing industry. Tens of thousands of Americans made their careers at Delphi, and, through their work, helped to establish America as the world’s preeminent producer of automobiles. After Delphi went bankrupt, thousands of salaried and non-unionized Delphi workers, through no fault of their own, had their pension plan terminated, upon which trusteeship was transferred to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) for administration, consistent with statutory limits,” says the memo. It continues, “the plight of Delphi’s salaried and non-unionized workforce is of great concern to my Administration, which is committed to protecting all American workers.”

“The treatment of the salaried and non-unionized Delphi retirees has also brought renewed attention to problems with America’s pension system more generally,” the memo says, and it notes that the Government Accountability Office in 2019 included the PBGC’s SingleEmployer and Multi-Employer Programs on its list of government programs that are at high risk. “Reforms are needed to maintain the solvency of these critical programs into the future, so that those Americans with pensions under the PBGC’s trusteeship have financial certainty and security,” says Trump.

Directions to Departments

The memo directs the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing Policy, to review the Delphi matter and inform the President within 90 days of the date of this memorandum of any appropriate action that may be taken, consistent with applicable law, to: 

  • address affected Delphi retirees’ lost pension benefits; and 
  • bring additional transparency to the decision to terminate the plan, consistent with appropriate protections for privileged and confidential material.  

Furthermore, they are to include in the review an evaluation of the feasibility of enacting legislation and whether the plan may be restored to its pretermination status.

The memo also directs those secretaries to review the pension plans the PBGC now holds in trusteeship and inform the President within 180 days of the date of this memorandum of any appropriate action that may be taken consistent with applicable law. Those actions can include proposing legislation that “appropriately balances the interests of all those covered by the pension system—from retirees, workers, employers and unions, to plans and taxpayers—to address the insolvency of such plans and to maintain the future solvency of the PBGC’s Single-Employer and Multi-Employer Programs.”