[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 26, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S3623]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KAINE (for himself and Mr. Cassidy):
  S. 2517. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the 
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to allow for periodic 
automatic reenrollment under qualified automatic contribution 
arrangements , and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. KAINE. Madam President, today I am introducing the Auto Reenroll 
Act of 2023, alongside Senator Cassidy. 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 2023 would boost participation by 
encouraging safe harbor retirement plans to adopt automatic 
reenrollment features. 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 
permitting employers to 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.
                                 ______