WASHINGTON — Ways and Means Committee Republican Leader Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) reintroduced the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021, bipartisan legislation to help more Americans successfully save for a secure retirement. This legislation was first introduced in October 2020, and builds on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 to further improve workers’ long-term financial wellbeing.

“Ensuring Americans have the resources they need for a prosperous retirement is a bipartisan priority,” said Brady and Neal. “We were pleased to work together to enact the SECURE Act last Congress—the most significant retirement legislation to become law in over a decade. While the SECURE Act made significant improvements to our country’s retirement system, more needs to be done. That’s why we are pleased to jointly reintroduce this next step, which will help Americans approach retirement with the confidence and dignity they deserve after decades of hard work and sacrifice.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated our nation’s existing retirement crisis, further compromising Americans’ long-term financial security. In addition to meeting Americans’ most pressing needs now, we must also take steps to ensure their well-being further down the road. With this bill, we build on the landmark provisions in the SECURE Act, enabling more workers to begin saving earlier and giving them peace of mind as they plan for the future.”

The Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021 will:

• Promote savings earlier for retirement by enrolling employees automatically in their company’s 401(k) plan, when a new plan is created;
• Create a new financial incentive for small businesses to offer retirement plans;
• Direct the Internal Revenue Service to promote the Saver’s Credit to increase utilization;
• Expand retirement savings options for non-profit employees by allowing groups of non-profits to join together to offer retirement plans to their employees;
• Allow individuals to save for retirement longer by increasing the required minimum distribution age to 75;
• Offer individuals ages 62, 63 and 64 more flexibility to set aside savings as they approach retirement;
• Allow individuals to pay down a student loan instead of contributing to a 401(k) plan and still receive an employer match in their retirement plan;
• Make it easier for military spouses who change jobs frequently to save for retirement;
• Allow individuals more flexibility to make gifts to charity through their IRAs;
• Allow taxpayers to avoid harsh penalties for inadvertent errors managing an IRA that can lead to a loss of retirement savings;
• Protect retirees who unknowingly receive retirement plan overpayments; and
• Make it easier for employees to find lost retirement accounts by creating a national, online, database of lost accounts.

A section-by-section summary of the bill can be found HERE.

Full text of the legislation is available HERE.