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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 31, 2005

PBGC Public Affairs, 202-326-4343

Statement of Executive Director Bradley Belt on Government Accountability Office pension study

“GAO is to be commended for shedding light on how corporate pension plans developed the largest shortfalls ever recorded. The funding-rule weaknesses highlighted in this report are the very ones the Administration’s reform proposal would address. When pension plans are underfunded, they need to be replenished with real dollars, not with phantom ‘credit balances.’ Current-law ‘smoothing’ practices make pension plans look financially healthier than they really are. The GAO report confirms what we have been saying all along: The rules must be changed to ensure that companies keep the pension promises they have made to their workers.”

PBGC is a federal corporation created under ERISA. It currently guarantees payment of basic pension benefits earned by 44 million American workers and retirees participating in about 31,000 private-sector defined benefit pension plans. The agency receives no funds from general tax revenues. Operations are financed largely by insurance premiums paid by companies that sponsor pension plans and investment returns.