Press Releases

Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal (D-MA) introduced the Automatic IRA Act of 2024 to dramatically expand retirement coverage for millions of workers. The legislation unlocks a key retirement savings vehicle for employees, gig workers, and other independent contractors nationwide.

“Automatic IRAs are simple, effective, and proven tools to help more workers save for secure retirements,” Ranking Member Neal said. “Across the country, many state automatic IRAs are demonstrating that automatic IRAs not only work in increasing savings rates but also help close racial, gender, and income savings gaps, and it’s past time for the federal government to expand this success to all Americans. The Ways and Means Committee has established a recent precedent of bipartisan, meaningful retirement policy wins for the people, and to meaningfully build on our progress, I am committed to advancing the Automatic IRA Act of 2024 into law.”

Ranking Member Neal first introduced the Automatic IRA Act in the 109th Congress, and has remained steadfast in his commitment to securing the American people’s retirement savings. In November 2023, savings across the seven state automated programs topped $1 billion, with more than 800,000 workers enrolled, according to research from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The bill generally would require employers with more than 10 employees that do not sponsor a retirement plan to automatically enroll their employees in IRAs (automatic IRAs) or other automatic contribution plans or arrangements, like 401(k) plans. Smaller employers would be eligible for a new auto IRA tax credit, making this requirement essentially costless to implement.

A summary of the bill can be found HERE.

Full text of the Automatic IRA Act of 2024 is available HERE.