A General Accounting Office report said the PBGC’s administrative and operational expenses were $227.2 million in fiscal 2002, far in excess of the $11.7 million limit set by Congress in 1985. Only 5.2% of those PBGC expenses now fall under the statutory limitation. The PBGC collected $812 million in premiums and paid $1.5 billion in retirement benefits in fiscal 2002, the report noted.
Jeffrey Speicher, PBGC public affairs specialist, said the Bush administration’s fiscal 2004 federal budget eliminates the statutory limitation. Under it, the PBGC would still need approval from the Office of Management and Budget to request funds to administer a large unexpected termination, but now it would also have to notify Congress of such an expenditure, and Congress would have discretion to intervene.
