When General Motors filed for bankruptcy
during the Great Recession, retired workers with the company Delphi lost
the retirement they earned. Washington bailed out Wall Street, but too
many Americans like them were left on their own. It’s why I’ve been
fighting to restore these pensions for more than a decade.
After
years of effort by workers and retirees in Ohio and Michigan, it’s time
to restore full retirement benefits for more than 5,000 Ohioans and
20,000 Delphi Salaried Retirees across the country.
This year, I
reintroduced legislation with Congressman Tim Ryan, Senator Rob Portman,
and other colleagues to save these pensions. The Susan Muffley Act
would restore the terminated pensions, making the retirees’ benefits
whole. It would make up the difference between the pension benefits
earned by Delphi Salaried Retirees and what they received following the
GM bankruptcy.
We renamed the bill in honor of Susan Muffley, a
Delphi retiree who was so cash-strapped after losing her pension, she
avoided seeing her doctor. She passed away far too early as a result.
I
have been fighting for Delphi retirees and urging the U.S. Pension
Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) to do the right thing since 2009. I
thought we had this problem solved years ago, when I blocked President
Obama’s nominee, Josh Gotbaum, to head the PBGC. We hoped that would
signal to the Administration that we were serious.
Unfortunately,
he got the job anyway, and drastic cuts were forced on these retired
workers. But we kept fighting, and these retirees never gave up.
The
House finally passed our legislation to restore these retirees’ full
benefits. The White House has also signaled its support for this bill.
Now, I will keep fighting to get this passed in the Senate and overcome
some Republicans’ opposition, so we can get it to the president’s desk.
These Ohioans and workers across the Midwest earned their pensions. It is far past time to restore them.