WASHINGTON -- As the Democrat-controlled Senate continued to stall on legislation to protect worker pensions from future Enron-style abuses, the Republican-led House today overwhelmingly approved legislation to make permanent the landmark pension reforms included in last year’s comprehensive tax relief package signed by President Bush. H.R. 4931, the Retirement Security Savings Act, ensures that American workers will continue to have access to these new retirement security options over the long-term.

     Authored by Reps. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), the reforms made permanent today by the House include many provisions designed to make it easier for American workers to save more for retirement, including increasing IRA contribution limits, faster vesting for employer matching contributions, enhancing pension portability, providing additional catch-up contributions for workers over age 50, and encouraging small business to offer pension plans. A new Cerulli Associates study estimates the Portman-Cardin pension reforms will mean an influx of $956 billion in new retirement assets in defined contribution plans over the next 10 years.

     Meanwhile, the Senate has yet to take action on a House-passed Pension Security Act (H.R. 3762), which will give workers new freedoms to diversify their retirement savings and expand worker access to quality investment advice. The Pension Security Act, approved overwhelmingly by the House by a vote of 255-163 on April 11, has been bottled up in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

     Education & the Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH) and Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX) hailed today's House action and called on Senate Democrat leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) to schedule floor action immediately on legislation to protect workers’ pensions -- something Senate Democrat leaders have been promising to do since last February. The House passed the Pension Security Act with the support of 46 House Democrats, but the Senate has failed to act on the measure, which would provide a series of new pension protections that could have made a difference for workers at Enron.

     “These pension reforms have given millions of workers new opportunities to increase their retirement savings contributions, vest their employer matching contributions sooner, and keep their pensions when they move from job to job,” said Boehner. “It is only right for Congress to ensure that these benefits are made available permanently.”

     “President Bush is eager to sign the Pension Security Act into law, and Americans deserve to know that the Senate is committed to helping them preserve and enhance their retirement savings in the wake of the Enron collapse,” Boehner said. “Now it’s time for the Senate to follow the House’s lead and take action on both the Pension Security Act and this important Portman-Cardin retirement security measure.”

     “Today’s action helps us empower every American who wants to save for a safe and secure retirement,” said Johnson.

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