LWW
08-08-2012, 08:05 AM
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A series of emails between U.S. Treasury Department and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. employees show that the decision to effectively cut the pensions of Delphi salaried retirees “was a political decision, not a financial decision,” U.S. Rep. Mike Turner said Tuesday.
The 2009 decision stemmed from General Motors Corp.'s bankruptcy and affected the pensions of about 700 Dayton-area Delphi retirees. Some salaried retirees saw their pensions cut by as much as 70 percent, while hourly retirees represented by unions had their pensions made whole.
The emails, published Tuesday on the Daily Caller website, provide “additional impetus for future hearings and inquiries to require the administration to release documents,” said Turner, R-Centerville, a member of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Turner said: “We now have evidence that the administration has not been telling the truth.”
The Obama campaign issued a statement Tuesday saying the Delphi pensions had been handled properly.
“Corporate bankruptcies are tragic, and often lead to the loss of pension benefits. But the fact is that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation handled the Delphi salaried pension plan according to its standard procedure and the law. What's more, the GAO, an independent, nonpartisan investigative agency, has determined that these decisions were not made by the administration and ... to politicize the situation at Delphi is insensitive,” said Jessica Kershaw, spokeswoman for Obama for America-Ohio.
U.S. Rep. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, said Tuesday the emails show “that this administration has placed itself in the position of picking winners and losers by using the federal Treasury and basing the decision upon political philosophy rather than fairness.”
“The truth is starting to emerge,” Washington Twp. resident Tom Rose told the Dayton Daily News Tuesday. Rose is a salaried Delphi retiree who spent 30 years working for GM and nine years working for Delphi.
The Daily Caller said it obtained emails from Treasury and the PBGC allegedly showing that Treasury, not the independent PBGC, ultimately controlled the decision to take over Delphi pensions. In a House Oversight Committee hearing in November at Sinclair Community College, Vincent Snowbarger, PBGC deputy director for operations , testified that different treatment of pensions was a result of decisions made by General Motors, which at one time owned Delphi and continued to be Delphi's biggest customer.
“These emails showed that GM gave a rubber stamp (to pension decisions),” Turner said Tuesday.
The Obama campaign said Tuesday that Turner's comments were politically based.
*The Treasury Department on Tuesday reiterated what the department has long held, that “the termination of the Delphi salaried pension plan was made by the PBGC in accordance with its standard procedures and applicable laws — not by Treasury.
“Although the Delphi bankruptcy was very difficult for its employees and retirees, the actions Treasury took to support the American auto industry helped save more than a million American jobs during a period of economic crisis,” Treasury said.
Treasury spokesman Matt Anderson also cited a December 2011 Government Accounting Office report that said in part, “the steps taken to terminate the plans and reduce some benefits according to statutory limits are consistent with PBGC's usual actions when terminating large plans.”
The Daily Caller said the emails show that PBGC officials sought to keep Treasury informed of movement toward a decision on the* pensions. The emails also showed that Treasury kept PBGC counterparts out of its own discussions on the issues, the story said. For example, the story said a series of April 2009 emails showed that Treasury officials “disinvited” PBGC staffers from a meeting in which pension issues were to be discussed. The Daily Caller said excluding the PBGC from such a meeting was likely a violation of a federal law.*
The Daily Caller is* generally conservative in outlook and co-founded by Tucker Carlson, a former co-host of CNN's “Crossfire” talk show. Matthew Boyle, the story's author, said he could not discuss how he obtained the emails.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/decision-cut-pensions-political-decision-emails-sh/nQDBg/
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Secretaries, security guards, engineers, accountants, all ... BETRAYED (http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/decision-cut-pensions-political-decision-emails-sh/nQDBg/) by the regime.
The 2009 decision stemmed from General Motors Corp.'s bankruptcy and affected the pensions of about 700 Dayton-area Delphi retirees. Some salaried retirees saw their pensions cut by as much as 70 percent, while hourly retirees represented by unions had their pensions made whole.
The emails, published Tuesday on the Daily Caller website, provide “additional impetus for future hearings and inquiries to require the administration to release documents,” said Turner, R-Centerville, a member of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Turner said: “We now have evidence that the administration has not been telling the truth.”
The Obama campaign issued a statement Tuesday saying the Delphi pensions had been handled properly.
“Corporate bankruptcies are tragic, and often lead to the loss of pension benefits. But the fact is that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation handled the Delphi salaried pension plan according to its standard procedure and the law. What's more, the GAO, an independent, nonpartisan investigative agency, has determined that these decisions were not made by the administration and ... to politicize the situation at Delphi is insensitive,” said Jessica Kershaw, spokeswoman for Obama for America-Ohio.
U.S. Rep. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, said Tuesday the emails show “that this administration has placed itself in the position of picking winners and losers by using the federal Treasury and basing the decision upon political philosophy rather than fairness.”
“The truth is starting to emerge,” Washington Twp. resident Tom Rose told the Dayton Daily News Tuesday. Rose is a salaried Delphi retiree who spent 30 years working for GM and nine years working for Delphi.
The Daily Caller said it obtained emails from Treasury and the PBGC allegedly showing that Treasury, not the independent PBGC, ultimately controlled the decision to take over Delphi pensions. In a House Oversight Committee hearing in November at Sinclair Community College, Vincent Snowbarger, PBGC deputy director for operations , testified that different treatment of pensions was a result of decisions made by General Motors, which at one time owned Delphi and continued to be Delphi's biggest customer.
“These emails showed that GM gave a rubber stamp (to pension decisions),” Turner said Tuesday.
The Obama campaign said Tuesday that Turner's comments were politically based.
*The Treasury Department on Tuesday reiterated what the department has long held, that “the termination of the Delphi salaried pension plan was made by the PBGC in accordance with its standard procedures and applicable laws — not by Treasury.
“Although the Delphi bankruptcy was very difficult for its employees and retirees, the actions Treasury took to support the American auto industry helped save more than a million American jobs during a period of economic crisis,” Treasury said.
Treasury spokesman Matt Anderson also cited a December 2011 Government Accounting Office report that said in part, “the steps taken to terminate the plans and reduce some benefits according to statutory limits are consistent with PBGC's usual actions when terminating large plans.”
The Daily Caller said the emails show that PBGC officials sought to keep Treasury informed of movement toward a decision on the* pensions. The emails also showed that Treasury kept PBGC counterparts out of its own discussions on the issues, the story said. For example, the story said a series of April 2009 emails showed that Treasury officials “disinvited” PBGC staffers from a meeting in which pension issues were to be discussed. The Daily Caller said excluding the PBGC from such a meeting was likely a violation of a federal law.*
The Daily Caller is* generally conservative in outlook and co-founded by Tucker Carlson, a former co-host of CNN's “Crossfire” talk show. Matthew Boyle, the story's author, said he could not discuss how he obtained the emails.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/decision-cut-pensions-political-decision-emails-sh/nQDBg/
</div></div>
Secretaries, security guards, engineers, accountants, all ... BETRAYED (http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/decision-cut-pensions-political-decision-emails-sh/nQDBg/) by the regime.