Expected Return of Plan Assets under US GAAP

Guys, having trouble understanding this statement from page 110 from book 2:

Increasing the expected return on plan assets (under GAAP) will:

*Reduce pension expense

*Not affect the benefit obligation or the funded status of the plan.

Comment: So I get the first bullet but I don’t quite get the second. The formula for funded status is:

Fair value of plan assets - PBO = funded status

If you increase the expected return on plan assets, shouldn’t that affect the fair value of the plan assets, and thus affect the funded status?

Need help here.

actual return on plan assets - affects the Fair Value of plan assets. (Not EXPECTED Return).