Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL-13) today sent a letter to President Bush urging him to act quickly on legislation and regulations aimed at helping seniors to ride out the recent economic downturn.  Currently, retirees with 401(k) or IRA plans are forced to regularly withdraw assets from those accounts once they reach the age of 70 and a half.  As a result, many seniors who have recently seen sharp declines in their retirement portfolios are being forced to choose between facing a steep tax penalty or converting assets before the market has had a chance to recover.  In her letter, Biggert advocates giving seniors the option of retaining their retirement investments until it makes prudent economic sense.  She asked the President to quickly sign legislation, H.R. 7327, which passed the House and Senate earlier this month.  The bill contains several important provisions mirroring legislation introduced by Biggert, H.R. 7279, the Seniors’ Investment Security Act of 2008 (SISA). 
 
             To learn more about SISA, click here. 
 
             The full text of the letter can be found below:
 
December 18, 2008
 
Dear President Bush,
 
I encourage you to quickly sign into law H.R. 7327, the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008.  Approved overwhelmingly in both the House and Senate earlier this month, this important legislation includes elements of a bill I introduced, H.R. 7279, the Seniors’ Investment Security Act, which temporarily suspends the Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) on seniors’ defined contribution plans.  Given the markets’ recent declines and continued volatility, seniors should be permitted to manage their retirement assets in a way that makes the most economic sense for them, not forced to liquidate or convert portions of their 401(k) or IRA investments that have not yet had an opportunity to recover.
 
In addition, I ask that you urge Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to act with all possible haste to implement regulations providing similar relief to seniors that are required to comply with RMDs in 2008.  Urgent regulatory action on this matter is needed because, unlike H.R. 7279, which would place a three-year moratorium on RMDs beginning in 2008, the bill before you today suspends these rules only for 2009.
 
During these challenging economic times, it is only fair that American seniors who have worked and saved hard should be allowed to benefit from efforts underway to stabilize the financial markets.  By granting seniors the flexibility to maintain their stocks, mutual funds, and other investments, we can help protect retirees from unnecessary losses and ensure that they will not be unfairly excluded from any future economic recovery.  Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
 
Sincerely,
 
Judy Biggert (R-IL), Ranking Member, House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit

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