Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1994, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, or the SECURE Act. This is the most substantive promotion of retirement savings in the last 15 years, and we all should be pleased that we are part of it this morning.

One of my priorities since becoming chairman of the Ways and Means Committee has been helping American workers of all ages prepare for a financially secure retirement, so I am particularly pleased to be bringing this legislation to the floor this morning.

I also am very proud of the fact that I was able to collaborate with Ranking Member Kevin Brady and our Republican colleagues in drafting this legislation. Both Republicans and Democrats have wins in this bill, and I would like to thank Mr. Brady this morning for all of his hard work in helping me to write this legislation.

Unfortunately, currently, Americans face a retirement income crisis with too many people in danger of not having enough in retirement to maintain their standard of living and avoid sliding into poverty.

Social Security benefits are modest; employer-sponsored pensions are disappearing; and too many people find it difficult to save for retirement. According to a recent study, one-third of American workers believe that they will either face a significant financial hardship during retirement or, in fact, will never retire. And the 2018 study found that almost two-thirds of workers have no retirement account assets.

The SECURE Act, which the Ways and Means Committee approved with unanimous, bipartisan votes, goes a long way in addressing this problem by making it easier for Americans to save.

For example, the SECURE Act includes a small employer automatic enrollment credit. Automatic enrollment is shown to increase employee participation and retirement savings opportunities. Our bill creates a new tax credit of up to $500 per year for employers to defray the startup costs for new 401(k) plans that include automatic enrollment.

The SECURE Act also increases the age for required minimum distributions from 70\1/2\ to 72. This age hasn't been adjusted since the 1960s. With Americans working longer, this will encourage them to continue saving.

The SECURE Act also allows long-term, part-time employees to participate in their employer's 401(k) plans. Women are more likely to work part-time than men, so this legislation is particularly important for women.

Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Murphy for her leadership here.

The bill would also make it easier for small businesses to offer retirement plans to their employees by eliminating outdated barriers to the use of multiple employer plans. As a result of this provision, it is estimated that 600,000 to 700,000 new retirement opportunities will be formed.

All of these are important, commonsense proposals that will improve our retirement system.

I also note that this bill has tremendous support from a diverse group of stakeholders: AARP, SEIU, the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement, Church Alliance, the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative.

Finally, Madam Speaker, I want to highlight a provision that fixes an urgent problem affecting children of our fallen troops and first responders. Due to changes included in the Republicans' tax law, the amount of tax imposed on survivor benefits for children of veterans, Active Duty servicemembers, and emergency personnel increased significantly.

This bill eliminates that tax increase by repealing those changes. It also makes sure that all similar payments, like Tribal government payments to children, payments out of the Alaska Permanent Fund, and certain scholarships and fellowship grants will not be subject to this unexpected and unfair tax treatment.

These fixes could not have been accomplished without Mrs. Luria's leadership on behalf of our troops, along with many Members on both sides of the aisle who supported her efforts.

We should recognize Ms. Moore's leadership on Tribal payments and Mr. Horsford's leadership on the scholarship issue.

I am very proud that we were able to put together a bill that will help American families prepare for a financially secure retirement, and that it was done on a bipartisan basis, which we will acknowledge as the morning moves on, with significant stakeholder support.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R.

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Chair, I yield myself 30 seconds.

I want to thank the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore) for her support of the bill before us and her leadership on addressing the unfair tax that has plagued Tribes making taxable distributions to their children and young adults.

The kiddie tax was enacted to prevent wealthy families from shifting family income to minor children.

The rationale for this new law does not apply to funds distributed by Indian Tribal governments because Indian Tribes are not taxable entities and their distributions could never be intended for the purpose of a tax deduction.

The Ways and Means Committee will work to address this problem, with the goal of excluding such Tribal government distributions from the kiddie tax provisions.

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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

As I close, I want to take a moment to celebrate this truly bipartisan process that brought this legislation to the floor today.

First, I want to thank the Democratic members and Republican members of the Committee on Ways and Means, and, in particular, I want to thank Mr. Brady for his good work along the way.

I also want to acknowledge that there is more work to be done in the leadership space in terms of retirement savings, and I am hopeful that we will be able to do that as well.

Let me acknowledge Mr. Roe, Mrs. Trahan, Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. Walberg, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Banks, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Budd, Mrs. Luria, and Mr. Bacon.

Certainly, as I come down the home stretch in closing, I want to acknowledge much of the good work that has taken place by staff members on both sides as well. But let me cite on the Democratic side, if I could--this was a pretty big bill, and it required a team effort. The Democratic staff, including Kara Getz, Andrew Grossman, Beth Bell, Aruna Kalyanam, Mary Petrovic, and Lee Slater all did yeomen and yeowomen's work in making sure that we would get to this day.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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