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Boehner and Wicker seek Answers for Delphi
Retirees
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman John Boehner (R-West Chester) and Senator
Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) today announced the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) will complete phase one of its non-partisan, independent
analysis of the federal financial assistance provided to the General
Motors (GM) Corporation and its treatment of non-unionized Delphi
retirees. The report will be released on March 31, 2010, and will
contain a specific timeline of the events that transpired.
“I’m hopeful that GAO’s investigation will provide answers as to why
thousands of Delphi retirees were treated differently than their
unionized co-workers,” Boehner said. “The Obama Administration’s
refusal to voluntarily provide a full explanation is
disappointing. This entire process has only confirmed my belief
that the federal government should not be in the business of running
private companies.”
“Delphi retirees continue to struggle to learn why non-unionized Delphi
retirees did not receive the same pension benefits as their unionized
colleagues following the taxpayer bailout,” said Wicker. “The Obama
Administration should fully disclose why this disparity was allowed to
occur. The forthcoming GAO reports should bring any wrongdoing to
light.”
Over $70 billion in taxpayer funding has been transferred to GM to keep
the company afloat. Under the Obama administration, the federal
government acquired a 60 percent ownership of GM following the
company’s bankruptcy proceedings. Additionally, the United Auto
Workers Union received a 17.5 percent ownership in the auto
manufacturer. Many are concerned that the federal government,
acting through GM, picked winners and losers in the GM bankruptcy
proceedings. Pension agreements are altered routinely during
bankruptcy proceedings, but in the GM case, certain pension
beneficiaries were protected during the process while others were not.
In the letter from Ms. Barbara Bovdjerg, GAO’s Managing Director for
Education, Workforce, and Income Security issues, to Senator Wicker and
Speaker Boehner, Bovdjerg said: “The [GAO] product will show a
timeline with descriptions of significant events concerning the
financial condition of Delphi and General Motors, pension plan
agreements, and involvement of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
and the Treasury Department.” The full text of the letter is
attached.
In addition to the phase one report, GAO plans to release a final
report at the end of this year that will investigate why unionized
Delphi retirees were treated differently than their non-unionized
counterparts. The GAO report will be coordinated with a report
from the Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program
(SIGTARP), which announced the audit last week in its Quarterly Report
to Congress. The SIGTARP audit will examine if any outside
political influence from the Obama Administration played a role in
keeping unionized pensions whole while non-unionized pensions were not.
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