Today, Congressman Mike Turner, in a letter to Ms. Barbara Bovbjerg, Director of Education, Workforce, & Income Security at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) lodged his reservations on a recently issued report regarding Delphi pensions. The report, entitled, GM Agreements with Unions Give Rise to Unique Differences in Participant Benefits, contains language which may be perceived as affirming the actions taken by the Department of the Treasury, the President’s Auto Task Force (ATF), and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) in terminating the pension benefits of Delphi salaried retirees. Turner stated in his letter that he “understand[s] that in the report you did not conclude that the actions of Treasury or the PBGC were proper or improper.”
An original requestor of the report, Turner wrote “that several statements standing alone would appear to indicate that GAO supports the actions of Treasury and the PBGC in reducing the pension benefits of the Delphi salaried retirees. In addition, the report fails to address outstanding questions as to the valuation of the pension fund, General Motors’ (GM) so-called contractual obligations, and information on PBGC's delays in litigation.”
“Despite the continued recommendation that Treasury increase transparency, GAO’s acknowledgement of Treasury’s multiple roles in the bailout and bankruptcy of GM, and the additional complications presented by GM’s ‘unusual’ role, it appears as though the possibility remains for some to misperceive these findings,” Turner went on to write in his letter.