[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 36 (Monday, February 28, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KAINE:
  S. 3712. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the 
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide for periodic 
automatic reenrollment under qualified automatic contribution 
arrangements, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Auto Reenroll 
Act of 2022, alongside Representative Kathy Manning, who has introduced 
companion legislation in the House of Representatives. Enacting this 
bill would improve financial security for Americans by strengthening 
their private retirement savings.
  Nearly 7 in 10 Americans working in the private sector have access to 
employer-sponsored retirement plans, but a quarter of those with access 
do not participate in those plans. This means less money saved for 
retirement. Often, it means leaving money on the table, in the form of 
employer-matching contributions. Encouraging more employees to 
participate in their workplace plans would increase their overall 
compensation and improve their financial security and retirement 
outlook.
  The Auto Reenroll Act of 2022 would boost participation through a 
simple change to the automatic enrollment safe harbor. Automatic 
enrollment plans have been tremendously successful at encouraging 
workers to participate in employer-sponsored plans, but employees who 
opt out of participating at the beginning of their tenure will likely 
never reconsider that decision. This bill would build on the success of 
auto enrollment by having employers reenroll nonparticipants once every 
3 years, providing them another opportunity to consider participation. 
This would encourage those employees to reassess their nonparticipation 
as their financial situation evolves.
  I encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation to 
bolster private retirement savings.
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