Sen. Portman Op-Ed in Youngstown Business Journal: One Step Closer to Restoring Pension Benefits for Delphi Retirees

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 -- Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, issued the following op-ed, published in Youngstown Business Journal:

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In a new op-ed for Youngstown Business Journal, Senator Portman applauded the executive action signed by President Trump last week to assist the Delphi salaried retirees. The Delphi Salaried Pension Plan (Plan) includes approximately 20,000 participants, including more than 5,000 Ohioans. The Plan was terminated in 2009 by the Obama administration as part of the auto bailouts, and salaried employees experienced benefit reductions of up to 70 percent. President Trump's executive action directs the secretaries of Labor, Commerce, and Treasury to review whether the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation can restore their full pensions and provide more transparency on the decision to terminate their pensions.

Portman has worked for years to help Delphi retirees on both their pension and health care issues. Since 2011, Portman has helped shepherd through bipartisan legislation to extend the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC), which helps Delphi retirees. Portman and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) worked together to extend this tax credit in 2011 and again in 2015. This Congress, Portman and Brown introduced a five-year extension of the HCTC to give these retirees stable, guaranteed health coverage. The HCTC reduces the cost of maintaining health insurance coverage for a number of individuals that are either receiving Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits or are over the age of 55 and under the age of 65 whose pensions were terminated and are being administered by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Excerpts of the op-ed can be found below and the full op-ed can be found at https://businessjournaldaily.com/op-ed-one-step-closer-to-restoring-pension-benefits-for-delphi-retirees/?lp_txn_id=103058.

One Step Closer to Restoring Pension Benefits for Delphi Retirees

By U.S. Senator Rob Portman

Youngstown Business Journal

This week, President Trump announced that he is taking executive action to help resolve a long-standing injustice that has affected the retirement plans of former employees of Delphi.

They earned their pensions the American way, through hard work and dedication. But instead of honoring the promises that had been made to these loyal middle class workers after years of service, the Obama Administration terminated their pensions, leaving them struggling to make ends meet in their retirements.

I've worked to help the Delphi employees for nearly a decade. The Obama Administration's decision slashed the retirement income of about 5,000 Delphi salaried retiree families throughout Ohio, from the Mahoning Valley to Dayton, which came on top of the total loss of all promised health care benefits and life insurance.

I have been able to help these same workers with their health care coverage by passing bipartisan legislation to extend the Health Coverage Tax Credit. This tax credit serves as an important bridge for older Americans who lost their pensions until they become eligible for Medicare benefits, covering 72.5 percent of their premiums.

Despite the division in Washington, we successfully reauthorized the tax credit in 2011 and 2015, and earlier this year, we introduced a new, five-year reauthorization bill to ensure this important credit stays in place so these hard-working Ohioans don't face unnecessary barriers to health coverage. Each time, I have been proud to work side-by-side with Delphi workers to advocate for this important tax credit, and it has been extended in no small part due to their dogged determination.

President Trump's memorandum directs the secretaries of Labor, Commerce, and the Treasury to review whether the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation can reinstate the Delphi salaried retirees' full pensions and requires them to provide more transparency on the status of their pensions to the retirees. While this action will not close the book on the Delphi situation, it puts these workers one step closer on the path towards a fair resolution that sees their pension benefits fully restored.

When hard-working Americans give years of their life to a company, they deserve not to be the victims of political decision-making in Washington, where winners and losers are chosen without regard to who gets hurt.

I thank the Trump Administration for recognizing the damage that was done to these retirees' futures and taking action to help remedy it. I'll continue to do the same in Congress, fighting for all the workers at Delphi who were denied the retirement benefits they earned through their years of hard work.