U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan participates in congressional hearing on Delphi pension loss

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-13th, participated in a congressional hearing last week about the U.S. Treasury Department’s role in the Delphi pension loss.

He called for an extension of the Health Care Tax Credit for Delphi retirees — suggesting that in light of the Delphi situation — the country’s bankruptcy laws need to be reformed.

“I do not believe that Congress or the retirees still have a complete picture of what happened in this situation” Ryan said. “If it’s determined through evidence produced here or in a court of law that the Delphi salaried retirees — and the splinter unions — were unjustly harmed due to politics or favoritism, then they must be made whole, and I will continue to advocate for that position.”

Efforts to determine how more than 20,000 Delphi salaried retirees, including 1,500 in the Mahoning Valley, had their pensions and health insurance cut significantly have been ongoing inside courts and on Capitol Hill for about four years.

Union employees at the GM parts supplier saw their retirement plans preserved during the automaker’s bankruptcy.