June 5, 2025
“It’s right and fair to ensure these workers—including more than 5,100 Ohioans—receive the pensions they earned.”
WASHINGTON – Sens. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced the Susan Muffley Act of 2025. This bipartisan, bicameral bill would restore the pensions of more than 21,000 Delphi salaried retirees, including approximately 5,180 in Ohio.
“Delphi salaried retirees were robbed of their pensions and the stable retirement they worked hard for throughout their careers. It’s right and fair to ensure these workers—including more than 5,100 Ohioans—receive the pensions they earned,” said Husted.
“Delphi salaried retirees have faced inequitable treatment for far too long. More than 2,300 retirees in New York State were promised a secure retirement, yet lost a significant amount of their benefits unfairly. The Susan Muffley Act will make these retirees whole by restoring these terminated pensions, delivering the payments that these hard-working Americans deserve. I’m proud to support this important legislation, and I will keep fighting to ensure fair and equitable treatment for all American retirees,” said Gillibrand.
“The Delphi Salaries Retirees should never have lost their pensions under the Obama Administration, and for the sake of fairness, it is long past time for Congress to step in and restore them. I am proud to help lead the Susan Muffley Act to ensure that nearly 5,000 hardworking Ohioans’ benefits are properly restored,” said Moreno.
“Every Michigander deserves the retirement benefits they earned during their career. The Susan Muffley Act is a bipartisan solution that would finally restore the benefits that the over 5,800 Delphi retirees in Michigan were promised and worked their whole lives to secure. I’ve been a proud cosponsor of this commonsense bill and will continue working to see it passed into law,” said Peters.
Named in honor of the late wife of a Delphi salaried retiree, the Susan Muffley Act of 2025 would restore the pensions of those who lost them.
The Delphi salaried retirees would receive a lump sum payment covering the pension benefits they should have received over the past 15 years, with 6% interest added to account for the delay.
The legislation would fully restore their pensions going forward, ensuring retirees receive the payments they were originally promised, as if the disruption had not occurred.
Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) also cosponsored the legislation.
Background:
During the 2009 recession, General Motors (GM) acquired car parts manufacturer Delphi amidst financial hardship. At the direction of the Obama administration and as part of GM’s bailout, GM voluntarily terminated the fully funded pensions of 20,000 salaried employees, including more than 5,100 retirees in Ohio.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) then took sole trusteeship of Delphi salaried employees’ pensions.
The Delphi salaried retirees have sought redress for the wrongful terminations of their pensions via the federal judicial system, but the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to hear the case in December 2021. As a result, a legislative solution became necessary to right this wrong.
In October 2020, President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the PBGC to examine the financial status of the Delphi salaried retirees’ pension fund and to investigate administrative or legislative pathways for restoring their pensions.
In July 2022, the Susan Muffley Act passed the House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote, but the Senate did not consider the bill.
Full text of the bill can be found here.