Bernie Sanders Prods DOL to Get Moving on Secure 2.0

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is urging the Labor Department to “effectively and expeditiously implement” the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) 2.0 Act.

Sanders, along with HELP Committee ranking member Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told the acting Labor secretary, Julie Su to “prioritize administration” of six provisions:

• Section 127: Emergency savings accounts linked to individual retirement accounts — provides employers the ability to offer “pension-linked emergency savings accounts.”
• Section 321: Review of pension risk transfer interpretive bulletin — requires Labor to review its current bulletin governing pension risk transfers.
• Section 341: Consolidation of defined contribution plan notices — directs Treasury and Labor to amend regulations to allow a plan to consolidate certain notices into a single notice.
• Section 343: Defined benefit annual funding notices — requires annual notices to include information on plan assets, liabilities and funded status.
• Section 346: Worker Ownership, Readiness and Knowledge (WORK) Act — authorizes a $50 million grant fund to help establish and expand employee ownership centers and requires Labor to issue guidance on employee stock ownership plan valuation standards.
• Section 347: Report from Labor on the impact of inflation on retirement savings — directs the department to study the effects of inflation on retirement savings and report its findings to Congress.

“Implementing required regulations is essential to deliver the substantial benefits the Secure 2.0 Act provides,” Paul Richman, chief government and political affairs officer of the Insured Retirement Institute, said Thursday in a statement.

The emergency savings rule “offers the opportunity to accumulate or access emergency savings while maintaining retirement savings,” he said.