Dems push automatic IRA bill

Congressional Democrats are pushing a new bill to make it easier for workers to sock money away in retirement accounts.

{mosads}Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said Thursday that they were introducing legislation that would set up automatic payroll deductions for contributions to Individual Retirement Accounts. 

Whitehouse and Neal called the measure a win-win, by increasing retirement savings by an estimated $8 trillion a year and offering employers tax breaks for setting up the automatic accounts. 

“Each month, tens of millions of Americans build toward a comfortable and dignified retirement by contributing to employer-based savings plan,” Whitehouse said in a statement. “Unfortunately, half of American workers don’t have access to employment-based accounts and may find it much more difficult to save.”

“Getting more low and middle-income workers into the retirement savings system remains one of my top priorities,” Neal added. “Far too many Americans are putting their retirement at risk because they do not have access to a workplace savings plan.”

The measure would set up the automatic IRAs for workers who can’t get a retirement plan through their employers. Companies with at least 10 workers would have to enroll their employees, unless they opted out. 

AARP is among the groups that back the measure.