“Passing the SECURE Act is a big victory that will help ensure that all hard-working Americans have a chance to build a nest egg for their retirement,” Portman said in a statement as the bill finally crossed the finish line.
SECURE Act a “Down Payment
While obviously excited the SECURE Act passed, he was quick to point out that he views it as more of a good start, noting that he sees it as a “down payment” that opens the door to additional, badly-needed reforms—some of which he has already proposed along with Maryland Democratic Senator Ben Cardin.
“There is still more that we can do to help more Americans save for their retirement. I believe that passage of the SECURE Act can help pave the way for bolder reforms in legislation I have introduced with Senator Cardin called the Retirement Security & Savings Act (also referred to as Portman-Cardin). I believe the Senate Finance Committee should hold hearings and a markup on this legislation, and I will work closely with Senator Cardin to move it forward,” Portman said.
Portman and Cardin have a long history of bipartisan success in enacting sweeping reforms to enhance the retirement system, dating back to 1996 as members of the House of Representatives. Of note, a 2001 Portman-Cardin measure (the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001) more than doubled contribution limits to IRAs, allowed portability between different types of qualified retirement plans, and created the ability for older workers to make catch-up contributions to 401(k)s and IRAs.
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 included 25 provisions from Portman-Cardin bills, including the one providing incentives for employer to offer automatic enrollment. While several provisions from their Retirement Security & Savings Act (S. 1431) made it into the SECURE Act, including provisions to (1) expand the eligibility of 401(k)s to include part-time workers that complete between 500 and 1,000 hours of service for multiple years; and (2) increase the age for required minimum distributions (RMDs) from age 70½ to age 72, Portman-Cardin seeks to take things a few steps further.
For example, it would raise the age for RMDs to age 75 by 2030 and includes a broader set of reforms—57 specific provisions—designed to help more Americans save for their retirement.
If the SECURE Act would have come up for discussion on the floor of the Senate last year, some of the additional provisions Portman-Cardin may well have been added to the SECURE Act.
“I would have preferred to have the opportunity to take it through committee and expand it. But then that would have been very, very difficult—I would say impossible—to get the broader bill done this last year,” Portman said. “My conclusion was this [the SECURE Act] is great for expanding retirement savings—not that we shouldn’t do more. And that’s what Portman-Cardin’s about. But this was a great foundation. And we just we couldn’t let the opportunity pass.”
Portman-Cardin in 2020
No, it’s not a presidential ticket, but there will be some “campaigning” to get the further reforms in the Portman-Cardin bill passed in 2020, which Portman said “addresses really what I think are the four critical issues in retirement today.”
He outlines those issues like this:
