APRIL 2001
Portman-Cardin
Bill Hopes to Smooth its Bumpy Past
Two
foot soldiers in the battle to broaden pension legislation have
recently reintroduced a bill to loosen existing restraints on the
amounts working Americans can contribute to private pension plans. The
Portman-Cardin Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act (H.R. 10) allows employees to increase the sums of money they can
contribute to retirement savings plans and enables those aged 50 and
older to contribute an additional $5,000 each year to their pension
plan. It also changes existing rules to enable employees who change
jobs to roll over pension funds into their new employer’s plan or
into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA).
The principal sponsors of
H.R. 10 are Reps. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) and Rob Portman (D-Ohio). More
than 250 co-sponsors have also signed on, including Rep. Earl Pomeroy
(D-N.D.), who announced his support at a Capitol Hill press conference
on 14 March. Pomeroy, who serves on the House Ways & Means
Committee, emphasized the importance of the bill’s portability
provision, which is based on legislation he sponsored previously.
Another important ally, House
Education & Workforce Committee chairman John Boehner (R-Ohio) has
announced his support of H.R. 10, which he believes "will
untangle irrational rules that burden retirement plans" and will
"create new incentives for small businesses to establish plans
for their employees." The problem is worse among small
businesses, he explained; less than 20 percent of all small businesses
(those with 25 or fewer employees) offer any kind of pension coverage.
Despite wide bipartisan
support, the bill has run into trouble on the road to enactment. It
passed the House twice in the last Congress. The pension reform
provisions were also included in an omnibus House-Senate tax relief
bill that was debated (but not passed) in the last Congress.
Go to the IEEE-USA
Action Alert in this issue for more details on the bill. You'll
find it in our Features section on the Policy
Perspectives homepage.
In other Capitol Hill
activity, an all-embracing piece of legislation aimed at shrinking the
size of the national government was introduced in the House recently
by House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), along with five Republican
co-sponsors: Sue Myrick (R-NC); Pat Toomey (R-Pa.); Joel Hefley
(R-Colo.);
Nick Smith (R-Mich.); and John Sununu (R-N.H.).
The purpose of H.R. 1040,
which seeks to "promote freedom, fairness, and economic
opportunity for families," is to "reduce the power and reach
of the federal establishment." The sponsors offered no
explanation about why H.R. 1040 would benefit only families. The bill,
an impracticable one that would have to clear a host of committees,
was initially referred to the Ways & Means Committee.
Stay Tuned.
Edith T. Carper is a
special correspondent to IEEE-USA Policy Perspectives.
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