I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 735 

To increase the benefits guaranteed in connection with certain pension plans, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2023 

Mr. TURNER (for himself, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. TENNEY, and Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on 

Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To increase the benefits guaranteed in connection with 

certain pension plans, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Susan Muffley Act of 

5 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GUARANTEED BENEFIT CALCULATION FOR CER7 TAIN PLANS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.— 


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1 (1) INCREASE TO FULL VESTED PLAN BEN2 EFIT.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of deter4 mining what benefits are guaranteed under sec5 tion 4022 of the Employee Retirement Income 

6 Security Act of 1974 (in this section referred to 

7 as ‘‘ERISA’’) with respect to an eligible partici8 pant or beneficiary under a covered plan speci9 fied in paragraph (4) in connection with the 

10 termination of such plan, the amount of month11 ly benefits shall be equal to the full vested plan 

12 benefit with respect to the participant. 

13 (B) NO EFFECT ON PREVIOUS DETER14 MINATIONS.—Nothing in this Act shall be con15 strued to change the allocation of assets and re16 coveries under sections 4044(a) and 4022(c) of 

17 ERISA as previously determined by the Pension 

18 Benefit Guaranty Corporation (in the section 

19 referred to as the ‘‘corporation’’) for the cov20 ered plans specified in paragraph (4), and the 

21 corporation’s applicable rules, practices, and 

22 policies on benefits payable in terminated sin23 gle-employer plans shall, except as otherwise 

24 provided in this section, continue to apply with 

25 respect to such covered plans. 


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1 (2) RECALCULATION OF CERTAIN BENEFITS.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which 

3 the amount of monthly benefits with respect to 

4 an eligible participant or beneficiary described 

5 in paragraph (1) was calculated prior to the 

6 date of enactment of this Act, the corporation 

7 shall recalculate such amount pursuant to para8 graph (1), and shall adjust any subsequent pay9 ments of such monthly benefits accordingly, as 

10 soon as practicable after such date. 

11 (B) LUMP-SUM PAYMENTS OF PAST-DUE

12 BENEFITS.—Not later than 180 days after the 

13 date of enactment of this Act, the corporation, 

14 in consultation with the Secretary of the Treas15 ury and the Secretary of Labor, shall make a 

16 lump-sum payment to each eligible participant 

17 or beneficiary whose guaranteed benefits are re18 calculated under subparagraph (A) in an 

19 amount equal to— 

20 (i) in the case of an eligible partici21 pant, the excess of— 

22 (I) the total of the full vested 

23 plan benefits of the participant for all 

24 months for which such guaranteed 


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1 benefits were paid prior to such recal2 culation, over 

3 (II) the sum of any applicable 

4 payments made to the eligible partici5 pant; and 

6 (ii) in the case of an eligible bene7 ficiary, the sum of— 

8 (I) the amount that would be de9 termined under clause (i) with respect 

10 to the participant of which the eligible 

11 beneficiary is a beneficiary if such 

12 participant were still in pay status; 

13 plus 

14 (II) the excess of— 

15 (aa) the total of the full 

16 vested plan benefits of the eligi17 ble beneficiary for all months for 

18 which such guaranteed benefits 

19 were paid prior to such recalcula20 tion, over 

21 (bb) the sum of any applica22 ble payments made to the eligible 

23 beneficiary. 

24 Notwithstanding the previous sentence, the cor25 poration shall increase each lump-sum payment 


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1 made under this subparagraph to account for 

2 foregone interest in an amount determined by 

3 the corporation designed to reflect a 6 percent 

4 annual interest rate on each past-due amount 

5 attributable to the underpayment of guaranteed 

6 benefits for each month prior to such recalcula7 tion. 

8 (C) ELIGIBLE PARTICIPANTS AND BENE9 FICIARIES.— 

10 (i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 

11 this section, an eligible participant or bene12 ficiary is a participant or beneficiary 

13 who— 

14 (I) as of the date of the enact15 ment of this Act, is in pay status 

16 under a covered plan or is eligible for 

17 future payments under such plan; 

18 (II) has received or will receive 

19 applicable payments in connection 

20 with such plan (within the meaning of 

21 clause (ii)) that does not exceed the 

22 full vested plan benefits of such par23 ticipant or beneficiary; and 

24 (III) is not covered by the 1999 

25 agreements between General Motors 


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1 and various unions providing a top-up 

2 benefit to certain hourly employees 

3 who were transferred from the Gen4 eral Motors Hourly-Rate Employees 

5 Pension Plan to the Delphi Hourly6 Rate Employees Pension Plan. 

7 (ii) APPLICABLE PAYMENTS.—For 

8 purposes of this paragraph, applicable pay9 ments to a participant or beneficiary in 

10 connection with a plan consist of the fol11 lowing: 

12 (I) Payments under the plan 

13 equal to the normal benefit guarantee 

14 of the participant or beneficiary. 

15 (II) Payments to the participant 

16 or beneficiary made pursuant to sec17 tion 4022(c) or otherwise received 

18 from the corporation in connection 

19 with the termination of the plan. 

20 (3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub21 section— 

22 (A) FULL VESTED PLAN BENEFIT.—The 

23 term ‘‘full vested plan benefit’’ means the 

24 amount of monthly benefits that would be guar25 anteed under section 4022 of ERISA as of the 


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1 date of plan termination with respect to an eli2 gible participant or beneficiary if such section 

3 were applied without regard to the phase-in 

4 limit in subsection (b)(1) of such Act and the 

5 maximum guaranteed benefit limitation in sub6 section (b)(3) of such Act (including the ac7 crued-at-normal limitation). 

8 (B) NORMAL BENEFIT GUARANTEE.—The 

9 term ‘‘normal benefit guarantee’’ means the 

10 amount of monthly benefits guaranteed under 

11 such section with respect to an eligible partici12 pant or beneficiary without regard to this Act. 

13 (4) COVERED PLANS.—The covered plans speci14 fied in this paragraph are the following: 

15 (A) The Delphi Hourly-Rate Employees 

16 Pension Plan. 

17 (B) The Delphi Retirement Program for 

18 Salaried Employees. 

19 (C) The PHI Non-Bargaining Retirement 

20 Plan. 

21 (D) The ASEC Manufacturing Retirement 

22 Program. 

23 (E) The PHI Bargaining Retirement Plan. 

24 (F) The Delphi Mechatronic Systems Re25 tirement Program. 


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1 (5) TREATMENT OF PBGC DETERMINATIONS.— 

2 Any determination made by the corporation under 

3 this section concerning a recalculation of benefits or 

4 lump-sum payment of past-due benefits shall be sub5 ject to administrative review by the corporation. Any 

6 new determination made by the corporation under 

7 this section shall be governed by the same adminis8 trative review process as any other benefit deter9 mination by the corporation. 

10 (b) TRUST FUND FOR PAYMENT OF INCREASED

11 BENEFITS.— 

12 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 

13 the Treasury of the United States a trust fund to 

14 be known as the ‘‘Delphi Full Vested Plan Benefit 

15 Trust Fund’’ (hereafter in this subsection referred 

16 to as the ‘‘Fund’’), consisting of such amounts as 

17 may be appropriated or credited to the Fund as pro18 vided in this section. 

19 (2) FUNDING.—There is appropriated from the 

20 general fund such amounts as are necessary for the 

21 costs of the payment of the portion of monthly bene22 fits guaranteed to a participant or beneficiary pursu23 ant to subsection (a) and for necessary administra24 tive and operating expenses of the corporation relat25 ing to such payment. The Fund shall be credited 


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1 with amounts from time to time as the Secretary of 

2 the Treasury, in conjunction with the Director of the 

3 corporation, determines appropriate, from the gen4 eral fund of the Treasury. 

5 (3) EXPENDITURES FROM FUND.—Amounts in 

6 the Fund shall be available for the payment of the 

7 portion of monthly benefits guaranteed to a partici8 pant or beneficiary pursuant to subsection (a) and 

9 for necessary administrative and operating expenses 

10 of the corporation relating to such payment. 

11 (c) REGULATIONS.—The corporation, in consultation 

12 with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of 

13 Labor, may issue such regulations as necessary to carry 

14 out this section. 

15 (d) TAX TREATMENT OF LUMP-SUM PAYMENTS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Unless the taxpayer elects 

17 (at such time and in such manner as the Secretary 

18 may provide) to have this paragraph not apply with 

19 respect to any lump-sum payment under subsection 

20 (a)(2)(B), the amount of such payment shall be in21 cluded in the taxpayer’s gross income ratably over 

22 the 3-taxable-year period beginning with the taxable 

23 year in which such payment is received. 

24 (2) SPECIAL RULES RELATED TO DEATH.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the taxpayer dies be2 fore the end of the 3-taxable-year period de3 scribed in paragraph (1), any amount to which 

4 paragraph (1) applies which has not been in5 cluded in gross income for a taxable year end6 ing before the taxable year in which such death 

7 occurs shall be included in gross income for 

8 such taxable year. 

9 (B) SPECIAL ELECTION FOR SURVIVING

10 SPOUSES OF ELIGIBLE PARTICIPANTS.—If— 

11 (i) a taxpayer with respect to whom 

12 paragraph (1) applies dies, 

13 (ii) such taxpayer is an eligible partic14 ipant, 

15 (iii) the surviving spouse of such eligi16 ble participant is entitled to a survivor 

17 benefit from the corporation with respect 

18 to such eligible participant, and 

19 (iv) such surviving spouse elects (at 

20 such time and in such manner as the Sec21 retary may provide) the application of this 

22 subparagraph, 

23 subparagraph (A) shall not apply and any 

24 amount which would have (but for such tax25 payer’s death) been included in the gross inVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 Feb 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H735.IH H735

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1 come of such taxpayer under paragraph (1) for 

2 any taxable year beginning after the date of 

3 such death shall be included in the gross in4 come of such surviving spouse for the taxable 

5 year of such surviving spouse ending with or 

6 within such taxable year of the taxpayer. 

Æ 


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