English, Altmire tout proposal for automatic retirement accounts

By Matt Snyder
Herald Staff Writer

SHENANGO TOWNSHIP August 20, 2008 06:36 pm

— At The Radisson in Shenango Township near where their two legislative districts meet, Republican U.S. Rep. Phil English and Democratic Rep. Jason Altmire showed a moment of unity behind a single issue.
English, of Erie, R-3rd District, and Altmire, of McCandless, D-4th District, touted legislation that would automatically enroll any employee of a small business with more than 10 workers into an individual retirement account.
Employees could choose to opt out of this IRA, according to a release from the American Association of Retired People.
“This is bipartisanship at its best,” Altmire said. He said personal savings in America are at an all-time low, and Social Security alone cannot support retired people. English added that only about half of America’s 115 million workers have pension plans.
Both projected that by automatically starting employees off in the program, most would choose to keep deducting from their paychecks into the retirement account.
English said employers will not manage the money but will have to do some extra paperwork to start the deductions process. In exchange, the bill would provide a $250 tax credit for doing that paperwork for the first two years if a company has fewer than 100 employees.
As a “carrot and stick” measure, employers who don’t participate in the automatic enrollment IRA would suffer a $100 excise tax per employee, he said.
Companies with 10 or fewer employees or those that already offer pension or retirement plans would not fall under the proposal, AARP said.
For now, the legislation still needs more co-sponsors, English said. But both he and Altmire said it has gotten broad attention and support on both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate.
English said it will likely see the light of day, as soon as Congress works on a larger tax bill to which they can attach the legislation.
Both English and Altmire face competition in this year’s re-election. English’s seat is being challenged by Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper in what is perhaps his toughest re-election bid in recent memory.
Altmire, a first-year congressman, is being challenged by former Rep. Melissa Hart, whom he unseated in 2006.
Both English and Altmire have highlighted bipartisan legislation during the re-election year. An English proposal to temporarily extend unemployment benefits was signed into law and Altmire has worked on small business and veterans’ medical benefits legislation.