Mercer President and CEO Martine Ferland commended key congressional leaders for developing and introducing sweeping bipartisan retirement legislation, the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021. The House Ways and Means Committee passed the bill unanimously on May 5.

The legislation “represents a great opportunity for bipartisan progress on the urgent issue of retirement security” Ferland wrote in a May 4 letter to Committee chair Richard Neal, D-MA, and ranking member Kevin Brady, R-TX, noting that it would “build on the success of the employer-sponsored retirement system.”

Ferland noted several helpful provisions for plan sponsors and participants in the bill, including measures to expand IRS self-correction programs, encourage student loan match programs in 401(k) plans, create a retirement savings “lost and found” for former employees, and enhance 403(b) plans.

Approval of the Securing a Strong Retirement Act by the Ways and Means Committee sets the stage for expected approval by the full House this year. The bill draws several provisions from broad Senate legislation, suggesting that a combined retirement bill could advance this year, but the outlook for enactment of a final measure is uncertain. Sections of the House measure may be added to the sweeping infrastructure package being developed in Congress.

Related resources

Non-Mercer resources

• HR 2954, the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021 (Congress, May 4, 2021)
• Description of the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021 (Joint Committee on Taxation, May 4, 2021)

Mercer Law & Policy resources

• Major bipartisan retirement reform bill gets House committee approval (May 6, 2021)
• Senate reintroduces expansive retirement bill (May 20, 2019)

Other Mercer resources

• Martine Ferland’s letter to Ways and Means Committee leaders (May 4, 2021)