Senate Finance Committee Gives a Nod to PBGC Chief Nominee

The Senate Finance Committee on Nov. 15 in a 25-2 vote approved Gordon Hartogensis to be Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). Their action sends Hartogensis’ nomination to the Senate floor for a vote by the full chamber.

Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said in a news release that he is proud of the committee for advancing Hartogensis’ nomination and is “confident Hartogensis will work with us” to pull troubled pension plans out of unsustainability. Hatch said that he “looks forward to a quick and fair confirmation by the full Senate” on the nomination. 

The committee held a hearing on Hartogensis’ nomination on Sept. 27 at which the nominee told the committee that he considered serving as PBGC chief to be “an important mission for me.” He said that he thinks that the pension crisis “needs a bipartisan solution” and that he considers himself “a bipartisan problem solver” who can “be a facilitator in evaluating different solutions and bringing different parties together.”