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August 31, 2018 at 04:43 PM
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday afternoon during a visit to Charlotte, North Carolina, under the banner Securing Americans’ Retirement, directing the Labor Department to ease rules on small-business multiple-employer retirement plans and instructing the Treasury Department to review required minimum distributions from 401(k)s and IRAs.
The executive order is intended “to extend the incredible benefits of retirement savings accounts, such a big thing, to American workers employed at small businesses all across our nation,” Trump said during his remarks.
“As we head into Labor Day, our nation pays its gratitude to the hardworking men and women who make our country great,” Trump said.
Calling the order a “historic action,” Trump said it would provide “retirement security to countless American workers and their families. We believe all Americans should be able to retire with the confidence, dignity and economic security that they want.”
Continued Trump: “401(k)s have broken every record in the history of the 401(k) world, in terms of percentages up.”
Trump stated that the “complexity of current federal regulations makes it extremely difficult for small businesses to afford retirement savings accounts for their great employees. While large companies can afford to deal with these burdensome regulations … small companies just can’t handle it.”
As a result, “half of Americans working at small businesses with fewer than 100 employees have not had access to 401(k)s or other retirement plans,” he explained.
“That’s why I’m taking very bold action to lower the costs of retirement plans so that they can become an affordable option for businesses of all sizes.” Small businesses, Trump said, “will no longer be at a competitive disadvantage and small business workers will now be treated more fairly and have more choices.”
Trump explained that his executive order reduces “regulatory barriers” allowing small businesses to creating “low-cost association retirement plans,” also called multiple employer plans, or MEPs.
