U.S. House Passes Buchanan Bill to Help Americans Save for Retirement

Statement

The U.S. House Tuesday passed Congressman Vern Buchanan's bipartisan legislation making it easier for workers to save for retirement. The Retirement Security for Workers Act, included in a broad government funding bill, would make it less costly for small businesses to set up retirement plans for their employees.

The bill is expected to be approved by the Senate later this week and sent to President Trump for his signature.

"Today's House passage brings us one step closer to helping millions of hardworking Americans who enter retirement without adequate savings," Buchanan said. "We should be doing all we can to help people invest in their future and achieve financial security."

Previously introduced by Buchanan in the 114th and 115th Congresses, Buchanan's Retirement Security for American Workers Act (H.R. 1907) allows businesses to join together in "multiple employer plans" (MEPs) to share the administrative burden and costs of offering a retirement plan.

Buchanan noted that up to 35 percent of private-sector workers over the age of 22 work for a company that doesn't offer a retirement plan, while over 40 percent of millennials don't have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Millions of American employees stand to benefit from expanding the availability of workplace retirement plans. In fact, the AARP has found that workers are 15 times more likely to save when they have access to a retirement plan.

AARP endorsed Buchanan's legislation, noting that it will make "it easier for smaller employers to offer automatic savings through a pooled plan that offers low cost investment savings to workers and their families.

The American Retirement Association also backed Buchanan's bill stating, "We hereby express our strong support for the Setting Every Community up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 and the inclusion of the Retirement Security for American Workers Act in the SECURE Act … Pooling unrelated employers together into one plan creates an economy of scale that lowers both employer and plan participant cost."

According to USA Today, the average American has less than $4,000 in savings while nearly 60 percent of adults have less than $1,000 to their names.

Earlier this month, the House Ways and Means Committee passed another Buchanan bill to help Americans plan for retirement. The Know Your Social Security Act helps Americans plan for retirement by making it easier to access critical information about their Social Security earnings, contributions and future benefits.

Buchanan represents over 220,000 Social Security recipients in the nation's seventh-oldest congressional district.

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