$35.8 Billion Gone Wrong: Tens of Millions of Taxpayer Dollars Misallocated to Deceased Union Pension Plans!

Lawmakers Demand Answers on Mistaken Pension Payments for Deceased Individuals

Inspector General Report Reveals $127 Million Misallocated Due to Verification Failures

According to Just The News, lawmakers are demanding answers about tens of millions of taxpayer dollars mistakenly allocated to union pension plans for deceased individuals. This problem arose from the Special Financial Assistance Program under the American Rescue Plan of 2021 which was designed to help the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) support struggling pension plans. Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chair Bob Good have requested documents from the Biden administration to see how they are recovering these funds and to understand what went wrong and how it will be fixed.

An Inspector General report uncovered that the PBGC mistakenly paid millions of dollars to pensions for deceased Americans because it failed to cross-check participant lists with the Social Security Administration’s Full Death Master File. This oversight resulted in about $127 million being allocated to deceased participants in the Central States Pension Fund alone out of a total of $35.8 billion approved. The report also notes that while some of the misallocated funds have been recovered many other pension plans that received improper payments still have not returned the money. This indicates a significant issue in managing and verifying the payments to pension funds.

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$35.8 Billion Gone Wrong: Tens of Millions of Taxpayer Dollars Misallocated to Deceased Union Pension Plans! (PHOTO: Republican Herald)

DOJ Settles to Recover $43 Million from Pension Funds; PBGC Faces Pressure to Address Ongoing Errors

The Department of Justice has settled to recover $35 million from the Central States Pension Fund and $8 million from the Graphic Communications National Pension Fund. However the PBGC has not yet reported recoveries from over 60 other pension plans with similar errors. The PBGC, which insures private pension plans is under pressure to fix these payment issues and improve its checks to prevent future mistakes.

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