Legislative updates

The U.S. Senate today voted its approval of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020, as passed by the House of Representatives, with provisions that will fund government operations for the coming fiscal year. Included are provisions of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019, as well as healthcare-related changes.

The House Rules Committee has released text of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, whose provisions are to fund government operations for the coming fiscal year. Included in this legislative text—as many have hoped—are provisions of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019. The SECURE Act was passed as stand-alone legislation earlier this year by the House of Representatives, but was not taken up in the Senate. Inclusion in appropriations legislation was considered the last opportunity for passage of this legislation in 2019. These appropriations must have both House and Senate approval, and signature by President Trump, for the SECURE Act provisions to become law.

In these final days of the 2019 congressional session, as lawmakers negotiated to avert a shutdown of federal government functions and to authorize spending for the coming fiscal year, a number of tax-advantaged savings and health care-related changes found their way into the legislative mix. The majority are provisions found in legislation passed earlier in 2019 by the House of Representatives, in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, which is legislation that was not taken up by the Senate.

With growing bipartisan momentum that has lent new optimism for eventual enactment, comprehensive retirement legislation has been passed by the House of Representatives and now moves on to the U.S. Senate. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 passed in the House on May 23 with only token opposition, its 417-3 margin a demonstration of overwhelming support.