Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)
Hopes for quick passage of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act were dashed Thursday when the Senate failed to consider a motion put forth by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for a unanimous consent vote.
The request asked for "immediate consideration of H.R. 1994," the Secure Act.
Republican senators urged McConnell on Tuesday to put the Secure Act up for an immediate vote. The bipartisan bill passed the House by a 417-3 vote on May 23. Unanimous consent is an agreement among senators to expedite a vote.
The Senate reconvenes Monday. It's unclear if McConnell will resubmit his motion. Senators' other option is to attach the Secure Act to a year-end spending bill.
Charlie Bolton, an aide to Sen. Rob Portman, D-Ohio, said Tuesday that the Secure Act has not been able to pass "by unanimous consent because there's a couple of holds in the Senate. There are a lot of ideas we have to sort of break through the logjam."
Wayne Chopus, president of the Insured Retirement Institute, stated in a Friday opinion piece published on Morning Consult that with the Secure Act stalled in the Senate, "here we sit and wait while a retirement crisis continues to fester and a real solution languishes lying just beyond our grasp."
Chopus noted that the Secure Act will ensure "more access to annuity products, which offer a guaranteed lifetime income," while raising the age at which IRA investors are required to take withdrawals and eliminating the age cap for contributing to IRAs.
"This allows those who choose to continue working to continue saving without forcing them to withdraw money before they need it," Chopus wrote. "As our nation ages and the prospect of more Americans reaching 90 years old or older grows, we need policies to allow workers to save more money for longer retirements."
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2024. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
