[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 181 (Thursday, November 15, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7053-S7054]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Casey, Ms. Klobuchar, 
        and Mr. Cardin):
  S. 3636. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 
matching payments for retirement savings contributions by certain 
individuals; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I have introduced the Encouraging 
Americans to Save Act (EASA). This legislation makes common sense 
reforms to the saver's tax credit by making the credit refundable and 
restructuring it as a government matching contribution that is directly 
deposited into a worker's retirement savings account. This bill would 
offer matching contributions for the first time to millions of middle 
and lower income individuals not covered by an employer-sponsored 
retirement plan, including those who save through an IRA under a State 
or local government savings program--such as OregonSaves. The 
government match is also available to middle and lower income savers 
who participate in an employer-sponsored plan. The government match 
provided by the bill would both encourage saving and help middle and 
low income earners build assets by providing an immediate, meaningful 
return on their personal contributions. The legislation would also 
require the Treasury Department to reestablish the Obama 
administration's MyRA program, as IRAs established under that program 
would serve as the default account to hold government matching 
contributions in case a saver's retirement plan or IRA is unable to 
accept the government

[[Page S7054]]

matching contribution. I urge my colleagues to support this 
legislation.
                                 ______