Enzi Urges Diverse Investment to Help Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Grow

Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-WY, Ranking Member of theSenate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP Committee), today saidthat the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), which safeguards the pensions ofover 44 million American workers and retirees, must maintain a diversified and prudentinvestment portfolio in order to grow and reduce its deficit. “Our pension laws encourage individuals and private pension plans to diversifytheir investments for long-term growth and stability, and the PBGC must do the same,”Enzi said. “To weather the ups and downs of the economy, the PBGC needs a diverse,forward-thinking investment strategy. “We must allow PBGC to grow and reduce its deficit in order to protect thepensions of millions of workers and retirees. Otherwise we risk a tax-payer bailout – anda tax-payer bailout is not an option.” Enzi noted that the PBGC’s investment policy is more conservative than the vastmajority of Fortune 500 companies’ pension plans, the California Public Employees’Retirement System (CalPERS), the nation’s largest pension plan, and the federalgovernment’s own National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust.Enzi said he supports recommendations, included in a report the GovernmentAccountability Office released today, to improve the PBGC board’s corporategovernance policies regarding its investment policy. “The PBGC board needs to improve its overall corporate governance policies,including investment policy,” Enzi said. “I have raised the issue of better corporategovernance with Charles Millard, the PBGC’s Director, and he has made significantprogress in this area.” The complete GAO report is available here:http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08667.pdf.