With the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. $23 billion in the red, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) have jointly introduced a bill that would strip the secretary of labor of its power to hire an executive director of the agency, and instead require appointment and Senate confirmation. “The PBGC is the only entity standing between some American workers and financial ruin in retirement,“ Baucus said in a statement. “The executive director’s position is just too important not to be subject to Senate oversight.” Grassley added that “Congressional oversight of the executive branch is a constitutional responsibility” and that Senate approval “would guarantee more attention to the agency.”
