Trump seeks $1 billion to boost Delphi pensions cut in GM bankruptcy

The White House is asking Congress for $1 billion to restore pensions for former Delphi workers whose retirement benefits were slashed during General Motors' 2009 bankruptcy restructuring.

The request, sent to Congress on Wednesday as part of a broader $87.6 billion supplemental budget package, would boost pensions for workers at the former GM auto parts unit Delphi, a congressional source familiar with the matter said. The funds aim to restore benefits that were cut when the parts supplier collapsed during the Detroit automaker's court-supervised restructuring 17 years ago.

The pension request is one of several line items in the larger spending package, which also includes $500 million for Washington-area construction projects, $1 billion to reconstruct New York's Penn Station and more than $1.4 billion for Ebola response efforts, according to separate White House requests. The administration is also seeking authority for the Federal Aviation Administration to reallocate funds from its $12.5 billion air traffic control modernization program to any air traffic reform plan.

The $1 billion pension restoration would address a long-standing grievance for thousands of former Delphi workers who saw their retirement benefits reduced after the parts supplier entered bankruptcy alongside GM in 2009. At the time, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. assumed responsibility for the plans but at reduced benefit levels, leaving many retirees with significantly less income than they had expected.

The request tests congressional appetite for using federal funds to backstop private pension shortfalls tied to major corporate bankruptcies. Lawmakers in both parties have expressed sympathy for the Delphi workers' situation, but the price tag comes as fiscal hawks push back against expanding the federal deficit, which stood at $1.7 trillion for fiscal 2025. The supplemental package faces an uncertain path through a divided Congress, where debates over spending levels and debt ceiling constraints are expected to intensify ahead of the November midterm elections.

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