Senators Aim to Get Secure Act Passed by Year-End
Lawmakers are attempting to attach the bill to spending legislation to get it passed, an aide to Sen. Rob Portman says.
Senators are attempting to get the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) Act attached to other legislation, like a “minibus” or “omnibus” spending bill, to ensure passage by year-end, according to Charlie Bolton, an aide to Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
“Hopefully by the end of the year Senator Portman would like to see the [Secure] legislation become law,” Bolton said at the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries annual conference in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington.
“This is common-sense legislation that needs to get done now,” he said. “It’s urgent; it’s important.”
The aide explained that the Secure Act has not been able to pass “by unanimous consent because there’s a couple of holds in the Senate.” He added: “There are a lot of ideas we have to sort of break through the logjam.”
To be “honest,” he told attendees, “we’re a little bit stuck right now, and that’s why it’s so important that you’re here.”
ASPPA members headed to Capitol Hill Tuesday to lobby for retirement planning issues, with the Secure Act at the top of their list.
The deadline for an omnibus spending bill looms as the continuing resolution funding the government ends on Nov. 21.
Portman is also considering “maybe doing a broader hearing,” Bolton said, to also include the Retirement Security and Savings Act of 2019 “if the Secure Act can’t get done” this year.
Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Portman reintroduced the Retirement Security and Savings Act of 2019 on May 14 that 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 the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act (RESA) of 2019, which was introduced on April 1, but RESA only raised the RMD age to 72.
“After the Secure Act this [Portman-Cardin bill] is the next step,” Bolton said. “It’s complementary to the Secure Act.”
— Check out Senators Push for Vote on Secure Act Retirement Bill on ThinkAdvisor.