Senate Fails to Consider Unanimous Consent Vote on Secure Act

Hopes for quick passage of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) Act were dashed Thursday when the Senate failed to consider a motion put forth by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for a unanimous consent vote.

The request asked for “immediate consideration of H.R. 1994,” the Secure Act.

Republican senators urged McConnell on Tuesday to put the Secure Act up for an immediate vote. The bipartisan bill passed the House by a 417-3 vote on May 23. Unanimous consent is an agreement among senators to expedite a vote.

The Senate reconvenes Monday. It’s unclear if McConnell will resubmit his motion. Senators’ other option is to attach the Secure Act to a year-end spending bill.

Charlie Bolton, an aide to Sen. Rob Portman, D-Ohio, said Tuesday that the Secure Act has not been able to pass “by unanimous consent because there’s a couple of holds in the Senate. There are a lot of ideas we have to sort of break through the logjam.”

Wayne Chopus, president of the Insured Retirement Institute, stated in a Friday opinion piece published on Morning Consult that with the Secure Act stalled in the Senate, “here we sit and wait while a retirement crisis continues to fester and a real solution languishes lying just beyond our grasp.”

Chopus noted that the Secure Act will ensure “more access to annuity products, which offer a guaranteed lifetime income,” while raising the age at which IRA investors are required to take withdrawals and eliminating the age cap for contributing to IRAs.

“This allows those who choose to continue working to continue saving without forcing them to withdraw money before they need it,” Chopus wrote. “As our nation ages and the prospect of more Americans reaching 90 years old or older grows, we need policies to allow workers to save more money for longer retirements.”

— Check out Senators Aim to Get Secure Act Passed by Year-End on ThinkAdvisor.