Tim Ryan's Bill Restoring Pensions for 20,000 Delphi Salaried Retirees, 5,000 in Ohio, Passes the House

Today, the House passed the Susan Muffley Act to restore full retirement benefits to more than 20,000 retirees across the country – including more than 5,000 in Ohio – who worked for Delphi, the now-shuttered automotive parts manufacturer originally created as a division of General Motors. The bill is named in honor of the late Susan Muffley, whose husband David is one of the Delphi retirees.

After Delphi’s bankruptcy in 2005 and General Motors’ in 2009, responsibility for paying Delphi retirees’ pension benefits was assumed by the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). As a result of statutory limits on the maximum benefit amounts PBGC was allowed to pay, Delphi retirees saw a significant reduction in their pensions. The Susan Muffley Act directs PBGC to recalculate Delphi retirees’ benefit amounts without regard to the statutory limits – allowing retirees to finally receive their full pensions.

“The men and women who built up Delphi were made a promise in return for their years of hard work. They were promised a stable and secure retirement during their golden years,” said Rep. Kaptur. “Over the years, American workers have time and again seen these promises broken and the financial security that is rightfully theirs thrown away. Now, the Susan Muffley Act makes good on Delphi’s original promise. By restoring their benefits, thousands of retirees will have a better future – a future they had paid for and earned. In Defiance and Sandusky, Ohio – and across the Midwest and Industrial Heartland – the Susan Muffley Act is a giant step forward to make retirees whole.”

“I have worked hard for over thirteen years and three Presidential Administrations to restore the pensions of the Delphi retirees and now this bipartisan legislation will provide them with the retirement benefits that they have always deserved,” said Congressman Tim Ryan. “No hardworking American should have to worry whether their employer will deliver the benefits they rightfully earned after a lifetime of hard work.”