Pensions for All Act
Sen. Sanders Introduces Bill Requiring All Employers to Provide Federal-Style Pensions
Stalled
No legislative action in over 90 days.
↔Companion bill: New Bill Would Require All U.S. Employers to Provide Federal-Level Pension Benefits to WorkersLegislative Progress
Key Points
- This bill would require every employer in the country to provide their workers with a retirement plan. The benefits must be at least as good as the ones federal government employees receive, which include both a guaranteed monthly pension and a savings account similar to a 401(k).
- If a business does not want to run its own retirement plan, they can choose to enroll their employees directly into the Federal Employees Retirement System. Self-employed individuals would also be required to either have a high-quality private plan or join the federal system.
- Both employers and employees would contribute money to fund these retirements. To help smaller operations, the government would pay for half of the required costs for businesses making less than $25 million a year and for self-employed people making less than $75,000.
- The bill includes a 'no-pay-cut' rule, meaning bosses cannot lower a worker's current salary or hourly wages to cover the cost of these new retirement benefits. Companies that fail to provide a plan could be fined $10 per day for every employee who is not covered.
- This plan aims to solve the retirement crisis by making sure every worker has a steady income after they stop working. By using the existing federal system, it provides a safety net for millions of private-sector workers who currently have little to no retirement savings.
Impact Analysis
Personal Impact
Life & Work
Every employer would be required to either provide a retirement plan matching federal employee benefits or enroll workers directly in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). Small businesses with under $25 million in annual revenue would get a 50% reduction in required employer contributions, and a tax credit covers the other half — but this still represents a significant new cost and administrative burden for businesses that currently offer no retirement benefits at all.
Programs
Milestones
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
Votes
No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.
Related News
6 articles
Bill would give all workers federal-level retirement benefits
Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the 'Pensions for All Act' (S. 2335), which would require all employers to offer a retirement program with benefits equivalent to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) or allow employees to participate directly in the federal system.
Sanders Introduces “Pensions for All Act” to Ensure Workers Can Retire
The bill would require corporations to provide a retirement plan equivalent to or better than the pensions plan offered to members of Congress. Sanders stated that if corporations refuse to offer a decent plan, workers must be allowed to receive the same type of pension as federal employees.
Pensions for all: Sen. Sanders' new bill guarantees retirement income to 56M workers without a plan
The Pensions for All Act aims to provide comprehensive retirement coverage to the 56 million Americans currently without a plan. It mandates that employers either provide a traditional pension plan equivalent to FERS or pay into the federal system to ensure equivalent benefits for their staff.
Source Information
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Pensions for All Act
Data Sources
Sponsor
Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.