Congressman Mike Turner, in a letter to Vincent Snowbarger, has demanded greater details surrounding the Administration’s picking of winners and losers amongst Delphi retirees following the Auto Bailout. Just prior to a field hearing in Dayton on Monday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Snowbarger answered months-old questions regarding just how involved the Administration was in the Delphi decision. Snowbarger is Deputy Director for Operations for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and was directly involved in the Auto Bailout process.
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Congressman Mike Turner, in a letter to Vincent Snowbarger, has demanded greater details surrounding the Administration’s picking of winners and losers amongst Delphi retirees following the Auto Bailout. Just prior to a field hearing in Dayton on Monday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Snowbarger answered months-old questions regarding just how involved the Administration was in the Delphi decision. Snowbarger is Deputy Director for Operations for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and was directly involved in the Auto Bailout process.

“Mr. Snowbarger has revealed for the first time throughout this process that the Administration was on all sides of the deal which cut Delphi retiree pensions. Hardworking taxpayers, Congress, and Delphi salaried retirees deserve to know where the money has gone in this deal, and how we can get it back,” said Turner.

In his original letter of June 22nd, Turner asked Snowbarger: “Is the Treasury Department consulted in PBGC pension fund plan settlement negotiations?

Snowbarger answered in a November 9th letter: “…PBGC notes that attorneys for the Auto Task Force participated along with PBGC, GM, Delphi, and Delphi’s debtor-in-possession lenders in telephone conferences during which the terms of the PBGC settlements were negotiated.”

“Each of those participants, other than Delphi and Delphi’s debtor-in-possession lenders were Administration run entities. This revelation shows that the Administration was directly negotiating the end deal that picked winners and losers when it came to Delphi employee pensions,” added Turner.

Turner, who is a senior member of the Committee, has been pressing the Administration for answers since the Auto Bailout was undertaken. The field hearing stemmed from a decision by the PBGC that resulted in approximately 20,000 current and future salaried Delphi retirees from across the country taking a severe cut in their pension benefits. On June 22nd, at Turner’s request, an additional hearing on the Lasting Implications of the General Motors Bailout was held by the House Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending.