Along with the swearing in of President Joe Biden this week, three new senators were sworn in as well, swinging control of the Senate to the Democrats, along with the ability to control the agenda.
Newly elected Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff were officially sworn in Jan. 20, following successful wins in the two Georgia Senate runoff elections held Jan. 5. Additionally, Alex Padilla, who was named by California Governor Gavin Newsom to fill the Senate seat vacated by newly inaugurated Vice President Kamala Harris, was also sworn in.
This brings the Senate party split to 50-50, which includes independents Sens. Bernie Sanders (VT) and Angus King (ME), who caucus with Democrats. With Vice President Harris serving as President of the Senate and the tie-breaking vote, that shifts control of the chamber to the Democrats.
As a result, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will become Senate Majority Leader, replacing Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and the Committee chairmen will switch.
Committee Control
In the retirement and tax policy sphere, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) will take over as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, replacing long-serving member Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA).
Grassley will still serve on the Finance Committee, but due to Senate Republican rules limiting the amount of time a senator can serve as chair, he was already planning to relinquish his chairmanship of the committee, no matter the election results.
This makes way for Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), who will now serve as the ranking Republican on the committee. It’s worth noting that Crapo does have a bipartisan streak when it comes to retirement policy. He previously teamed up with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to co-chair the Finance Committee’s Savings and Investment Tax Working Group from six years ago that helped lay the groundwork for the SECURE Act. Among their recommendations were creating open multiemployer plans, expanding the Saver’s Credit, expanding the tax credit for small employers that start retirement plans, allowing part-time workers to enroll in plans, and increasing incentives for auto enrollment.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) is now set to take over as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, replacing Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who retired. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) is poised to take over as ranking Republican on the Senate HELP Committee.
The Senate HELP Committee has primary jurisdiction over private retirement plans and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, as well as most federal labor and employment laws.
In the meantime, Sens. Schumer and McConnell are still working out the details about how the 50-50 split will impact Senate rules and the overall committee assignments. One of the biggest hurdles is whether Schumer will seek to do away with the Senate’s filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to limit or end debate. McConnell is pushing to preserve the filibuster and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) had previously stated that he would be opposed to doing away with it.
Assuming it stays, that will make it more difficult for Democrats to push legislation through without bipartisan support. There is the congressional budget reconciliation process, however, which has special expedited procedures for passing spending and revenue legislation. It only requires a simple majority for passage and is expected to be used this coming spring, including the possibility of retirement policy legislation.
For a previous look at what some of these changes might mean for retirement policy, click here.
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