Secure Act Retirement Bill Set for House Vote This Week
The bill helps small businesses offer retirement plans, boosts annuities and raises the RMD age; the Consumers First Act is also on the docket.
The full House is set to vote this week on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) Act of 2019, one of the three bills circulating in Congress that would usher in big changes to retirement planning.
The bill would make it easier for small businesses to set up retirement plans, pave the way for more annuities in retirement plans and raise the required minimum distribution age to 72 from 70 1/2. To raise revenue, it would change the withdrawal rules on inherited IRAs, curtailing the “stretch IRA” strategy.
Also up for a House vote this week is House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters’ Consumers First Act, H.R. 1500, which Waters, a California Democrat, said seeks to “reverse damage” done to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under former acting director Mick Mulvaney.
The House Rules Committee, which determines vote scheduling, has both the Secure Act and Consumers First Act on its docket for review this week. A vote on the Secure Act is expected Thursday.
Passage of the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act (RESA) of 2019, introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., “remains a top priority,” Grassley said at a May 14 hearing.
Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, reintroduced the Retirement Security and Savings Act of 2019 on Tuesday. The bill would raise the required minimum distribution age from 70 ½ to 75 and also help workers pay off their student loans.
Cardin and Portman’s bill overlaps with some provisions in RESA, but RESA only raised the RMD age to 72. RESA is similar to the Secure Act.
Cardin stated during the May 14 hearing that “the first priority is to get the RESA bill across the finish line as soon as possible.”