House passes retirement savings bill

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 measures 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, DMass., chairman of the taxwriting 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 their retirement.

Known as the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, or SECURE Act, the bill makes long-planned changes supported by both parties.

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 measure 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.