Today, Congressman Mike Turner (OH-3) announced that the House Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services, and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs will hold a hearing entitled - The Administration’s Auto Bailouts and the Delphi Pension Decisions: Who Picked the Winners and Losers? The hearing will be held on Tuesday, July 10th at 10:00am in 2247 of the RayburnHouse Office Building. The hearing follows a May 14th letter sent by Turner requesting a hearing with testimony from those who allegedly made the decisions within the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) that resulted in approximately 20,000 salaried Delphi retirees from across the country taking a severe cut in their pension benefits.
“As former employees of the taxpayers, these individuals have a responsibility to answer as to how these decisions were made. The money they used to pick winners and losers wasn’t Obama Administration funds, or PBGC funds – those are taxpayer dollars. Taxpayers have rightfully been demanding an account for how those dollars were used,” stated Turner.
Turner’s letter to Chairman Issa requested that the Committee interview three former Auto Task Force members who have refused to meet with the Special Inspector General for TARP (SIGTARP) on the treatment of Delphi pensions. This latest attempt by Administration officials to avoid providing answers sought by taxpayers and Congress was brought to Turner’s attention in a May 9, 2012 letter from SIGTARP stating that the individuals had refused to meet, and that it was SIGTARP’s belief that they were involved with the decision to terminate the pensions.
“These individuals earned taxpayer-funded salaries for taxpayer-funded actions, and are now denying those taxpayers the transparency and answers they deserve. Because SIGTARP does not possess testimonial subpoena authority, I am requesting that the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform interview these individuals concerning the role they played in the decision to take the retirement and health benefits of these retirees. It is my hope those these interviews will provide information relevant to the Committee’s ongoing efforts, and hold these individuals accountable to the American taxpayers,” Turner wrote in his letter to Issa.
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