Letter to The Honorable Vincent K. Snowbarger, Acting Director of Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

Letter

Dear Acting Director Snowbarger:

Thank you for providing to me the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's
( PBGC) initial response to my March 31, 2010 letter, that was later supplemented on May 7, 2010.

I note with interest that the supplement to the PBGC's initial response to me came on the heels of a memorandum provided to you by the Inspector General (IG) of the PBGC. In particular, the PBGC IG stated the following:

I remain concerned that the information you provided in response to the
Senator's questions about recommendation implementation is both
misleading and inaccurate. (emphasis added)

As you can imagine, I am extremely troubled by this statement. Although it is true that the PBGC sent a supplementary response to my March 31 letter "to more fully describe the circumstances of the PBGC response to a contract audit by the OIG," I remain concerned. Would the PBGC have allowed its response to me to remain intact had its IG not discovered that the information provided to me was "misleading and inaccurate"?

Generally, Members of Congress rely on the representations of the heads of
executive branch agencies when conducting their respective oversight responsibilities.
Congress works hard not to second guess agencies and typically there is an element of trust that exists between Congress and the executive branch, particularly when it comes to an agency's written responses to Congress.

No less important is the fact that providing false or misleading information to
Congress is not in the best interest of an agency and the legal penalties for doing so are well-established.

The PBGC is an important agency within the federal government, especially in these troubled financial times. Essential to its mission is that the PBGC maintains its integrity and that Congress be able to rely upon its representations without question. In addition, if there is any other information that has been provided to me or to any Member of Congress that requires further explanation or clarification from PBCG, please provide that information as soon as possible and in no event later than June 1, 2010. In closing, please take whatever actions needed internally to ensure that the situation discussed in this letter does not happen again in the future.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Grassley
Ranking Member

cc: Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis
Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke
Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner
Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
Senator Michael B. Enzi, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions

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