The nearly $2 trillion broad-based legislative package that includes mega Roth and other retirement-based revenue raisers does not appear to be moving anytime soon, but there is hope for bipartisan retirement legislation.
Speaking to reporters last week, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)—who had been the subject of negotiations for the last several months and whose vote is needed for the legislation to pass in the Senate—basically declared the bill dead in its current form.
When asked about the status of the bill, Manchin reportedly responded, “What Build Back Better bill? There is no Build Back Better bill; I don't know what you're all talking about.” He later told reporters, “It’s dead.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who would be responsible for shepherding the legislation through the Senate as chair of the Senate Budget Committee, apparently was not pleased with Manchin’s declaration, tweeting on Feb 1: “When you have a proposal that has the overwhelming support of the American people, we can’t allow that to die. If some Senators choose to side with corporate America, that's their business. But for me, and I think millions of Americans, it's time to fight for working families.”
Following House passage of the legislation in November, the bill had essentially been on life support since December. Yet, while Sen. Manchin’s latest pronouncement appears to be the final blow, he did leave open the possibility that he would support a drastically scaled-back version of the legislation. However, he did not offer any new details on what that might be beyond his earlier statements of support for renewable energy incentives and reducing health care costs, among others.
In mid-December, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) had floated a nearly 1,200-page Senate amendment to the House-passed version that also included limits on “mega” Roths and in-plan Roth conversions, but the Senate legislation was never considered and it’s not clear what might happen to these proposals.
And while recent reports suggested that the congressional Democratic leadership was planning to carve out separate pieces of the legislation that could potentially pass in both chambers, there does not appear to be much progress with those efforts—at least not publicly.
Waiting in the wings, however, is the SECURE Act 2.0, along with the RISE Act. Both of these bills have been passed out of committee and many in the retirement policy community are optimistic they will see action in the coming months.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), who is the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee and has plans to retire from Congress this year, said during a Feb. 2 press call that he is in talks with Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) about expediting a vote on the SECURE 2.0 legislation. “I defer to him on the timing of that, but our discussions have been going very well in my view. And I’m hopeful that House Democrats will find an opening for us to move this bill sooner rather than later,” Bloomberg quoted Brady as saying.
And while nothing official has been announced of late in the Senate, it is anticipated that the Senate Finance Committee and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will be putting forward retirement reform legislation in the coming months.
Additionally, Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Ben Cardin (D-MD), who have been champions of retirement policy for more than two decades and who both sit on the Finance Committee, last May reintroduced their Retirement Security and Savings Act (S. 1770). Several provisions in the Portman-Cardin bill overlap with the SECURE Act 2.0, and it’s possible that some form of this legislation will be included with forthcoming legislation that emerges from the Finance and HELP committees.
In addition, like Rep. Brady, Sen. Portman is planning to retire this year, which could help generate momentum for a legacy-building retirement bill.
- Log in to post comments