[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 22, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. HUTCHISON:
  S. 180. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow 
married individuals to contribute to an IRA even if their spouse is a 
participant in a pension plan; to the Committee on Finance.


                       homemaker ira legislation

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, this bill closes a loophole in the 
homemaker IRA bill that we passed in the last Congress. We made the 
homemakers of our country equal to wage earners in their ability to 
save for their retirement futures through individual retirement 
accounts. Presently, every person who is working at home or working 
outside the home can set aside $2,000 a year that earns tax-free 
interest for their retirement security. However, what families are not 
able to do under existing law and what this bill will enable them to 
do, up to $40,000 in income, is to save under a homemaker IRA even if 
the homemaker's spouse has a pension plan. This revision is critical to 
encourage average-income families to save for their retirement.
  Mr. President, if our young people will avail themselves of this 
wonderful new opportunity which Congress has given them to allow 
homemakers as well as those who work outside the home to contribute 
$2,000 a year to an IRA, by the time they retire at age 65, they will 
be able to build a nest egg of a remarkable $1 million, if they both 
start contributing the maximum allowable amount from age 25--$1 million 
for this working, one-income family. If they even wait until they are 
35, they would be able to build up $500,000 for retirement.
  This is an opportunity that I hope every young couple will look at 
and take advantage of to provide for their retirement security. Last 
year we in Congress did the right thing by extending the IRA to 
homemakers. Now we simply need to ensure that this opportunity is 
available to all families of up to $40,000 of income. This bill will do 
just that.
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