Snowbarger’s Reign at PBGC Could Be Short

Vincent K. Snowbarger’s appointment as acting executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. by Labor Secretary Elaine Chao might not hold for long. Pending legislation co-authored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, would make the PBGC executive director a presidential appointee requiring Senate approval.

“Even if Mr. Snowbarger’s appointment were made permanent today, if this legislation gets enacted he would go back to interim status and the president would choose the new executive director, and that choice would be voted upon by the Senate,” says a staffer at Baucus’ office who did not wish to be identified.

Snowbarger was appointed Thursday, June 1, to replace Brad Belt, who resigned March 23 and officially left the agency Wednesday. His appointment was first reported Thursday afternoon on Pensions & Investments’ Web site, pionline.com. Snowbarger had been the PBGC’s deputy executive director since November 2004 and served as interim executive director of the agency in February 2004 after Steven Kandarian resigned. Snowbarger was a Republican U.S. representative from Kansas from 1997 to 1999, and was a state representative before that.

David James, a Labor Department spokesman, did not return calls for comment by deadline.

This article first appeared on pionline.com, the Web site of Pensions & Investments, a sister publication of Workforce Management.