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Retirement continues to be one of the few truly bipartisan issues in Washington, as evidenced by the introduction of two bipartisan retirement bills that are currently under consideration.
On May 20th, Senators Robert Portman (R-OH) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) re-introduced the Retirement Security & Savings Act, which includes over 50 provisions designed to strengthen Americans’ retirement security.
The Retirement Security & Savings Act is similar to, and has many overlapping provisions with, the Securing A Strong Retirement Act, which was introduced by Representatives Richard Neal (D-MA) and Kevin Brady (R-TX) in the House on May 3rd and unanimously passed by the House Ways and Means Committee on May 5th. These bills build on many of the changes to the defined contribution (DC) landscape enacted by the SECURE Act in December 2019.
Despite the bipartisan support behind both bills, there are several additional steps that must be taken before retirement legislation can be enacted. The Securing A Strong Retirement Act must be considered and passed by the full House of Representatives and the Retirement Security & Savings Act must be considered, marked-up, and passed by both the Senate Finance Committee and the full Senate. It is expected that the Senate Finance Committee will hold a retirement hearing as early as this summer and may mark-up the Retirement Security & Savings Act as early as this fall. Once the House and Senate have each passed bills, they must reconcile any differences between their respective bills before sending a final version to be signed by President Biden. While timing is very much unknown, this could happen closer to the end of the year.
The chart below highlights key similarities and differences between the two bills
Retirement Security & Savings Act (Portman-Cardin) |
Securing A Strong Retirement Act (Neal-Brady) |
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Automatic enrollment |
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• Requires an initial automatic enrollment rate of at least 3% for newly created 401(k) and 403(b) plans. Existing plans would be exempt. |
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Catch-up contributions |
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403(b)s |
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Student loan matching |
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Saver’s Credit |
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Required minimum distributions (RMDs) |
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Lifetime income |
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Encouraging small businesses to offer plans |
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Other provisions to expand access to retirement plans |
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Performance benchmarks for target date funds |
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Electronic delivery of plan documents |
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Expanding Roth |
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