PBGC director nominee W. Thomas Reeder Jr. will work to increase retirement savings and help multiemployer plans if he becomes director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., Mr. Reeder said at his confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee.
“If confirmed, one of my highest priorities will be to ensure that the new multiemployer pension law is administered fairly,” he said. “Much more has to be done to prevent insolvency of the (PBGC’s) multiemployer program,” he added.
Mr. Reeder said he also will work with agency staff and stakeholders “to develop a workable consensus” on PBGC policies and programs. “Defined benefit plans are a better way to achieve (retirement security) than defined contribution plans and must be preserved. We need to find creative ways to involve more employees and employers,” he said.
“The solution to the multiemployer problem right now is going to involve some combination of steps: some level of pain and some political reality. One is to reduce benefits, another is to increase premiums, and another is to find money from some other source.”
Mr. Reeder has served as health-care counsel at the IRS since March 2013. Before that, he was senior benefits counsel on the Senate Finance Committee staff and held numerous tax policy positions with the Department of Treasury.
A full Senate vote on his nomination, which is unopposed, has not been scheduled.