House OKs bill to boost retirement cash

WASHINGTON — The House overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday to promote retirement security by making it easier for small businesses and other companies to offer retirement plans.

The bipartisan bill, approved 417-3, also makes it easier for workers to transfer retirement plans when they change jobs and allows part-time workers to save for retirement. The bill also fixes a provision of the 2017 tax cut law that inadvertently raised taxes on benefits received by family members of deceased military veterans. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, called the bill the most significant retirement legislation in 15 years. With Thursday’s vote, “the House made significant progress in fixing our nation’s retirement crisis and helping workers of all ages save for their futures,” he said.

“Too many people find it difficult to save for retirement. Many don’t have retirement plans at all,” Neal said.

A report last year by the nonprofit Center for Financial Services Innovation said 4 in 10 adults have not saved for retirement.

The bill now goes to the Senate. Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, predicted quick passage.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was glad the bill would remove an unintended tax increase imposed on military families. Lawmakers from both parties wanted to change the provision after discovering that it was included in the tax cut law.

“It is outrageous and unacceptable that children who have survived so much are now forced to pay thousands of additional dollars in taxes on their benefits,” said Pelosi, D-Calif.

The bill, known as the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, or SECURE Act, makes long-planned changes supported by both parties. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., said the bill will “help future retirees prepare for the golden years and make it easier for businesses to help in that effort.”

To attain financial security in retirement, workers must start investing and saving as early as possible, Kelly and other lawmakers said.

AARP, the nation’s largest advocacy group for Americans 50 and older, said the bill will improve retirement savings for tens of millions of older workers. AARP hailed the provision allowing part-time workers to gain access to an employer’s retirement savings plan. The bill will help older workers and caregivers who shift from full-time work to part-time status or return to the workforce on a part-time basis, the group said.

The bill also repeals a maximum age for those making contributions to individual retirement accounts and allows seniors to delay distribution of retirement savings until age 72. Both changes are intended to accommodate a growing number of workers who choose to postpone retirement.