美国国家公共电台 NPR Republicans Scrap Rule For Small-Business Retirement Plans

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Senate Republicans have voted to scrap 1 an Obama-era policy that lets states offer retirement 2 savings 3 plans to millions of small business employees. Here's NPR's Chris Arnold.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE 4: Many small businesses say that they can't afford to set up retirement savings plans for their workers, such as 401k plans. And that's a big reason why so many Americans aren't saving.

CRISTINA MARTIN FIRVIDA: There are 55 million Americans who have no way to save for their retirement at work.

ARNOLD: That's Cristina Martin Firvida with the AARP. She says when bigger companies automatically enroll 5 workers in retirement plans, the vast majority of people stick with it and keep saving. They could opt 6 out, but they don't. And if you did the same thing for workers at small businesses...

FIRVIDA: They would be 15 times more likely to save for retirement if they could do that straight out of their paycheck.

ARNOLD: So Oregon, California, Illinois and five other states have now passed laws to help small businesses enroll workers in state-designed plans. That was given a boost by an Obama administration policy, which Congress just overturned.

TOBIAS READ: I'm just disappointed.

ARNOLD: Tobias Read is the state treasurer 7 of Oregon. He explains that the Obama administration created guidance for states, and it said basically if you do the savings plans this way, you're within federal law. By rescinding 8 that, Congress has now created uncertainty 9, and that could discourage more states from passing these laws. Oregon is facing that uncertainty, too. But Read says with 1 million people with no workplace retirement plan, his state is going to push ahead.

READ: We believe we are safely within the law, and we want to take the chance to help working Oregonians.

ARNOLD: One of the first small business owners to take part in the Oregon Saves plan will be Saleem Noorani. He runs two wine-and-beer shops, and he has 11 employees who will automatically be enrolled 10 in the pilot phase of the plan this summer.

SALEEM NOORANI: Well, they're all very excited that they are even being able to participate in the program.

ARNOLD: Noorani says setting up a 401k plan was just too expensive for his small business, but the Oregon plan is free for him. His workers will choose from a few different investment options. It's actually a lot like state-designed 529 college savings plans. The state creates the framework, but the investments are managed by a private company. In this case, it's State Street bank.

NOORANI: I was so glad to see Oregon come up with this plan where it makes it so easy and so simple.

ARNOLD: Which is why Noorani is also very confused about why Republicans in Congress have now voted to make these plans harder for states to set up.

NOORANI: I'm a Republican, and I can't find any logical answer for it. When you see something that's such a great solution out there, why do you go around and sabotage 11 it?

ARNOLD: The financial industry has been lobbying Congress to get rid of the Obama policy. Lisa Bleier is with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

LISA BLEIER: Every state is coming up with all different ideas as to how they're going to do it.

ARNOLD: Bleier says that will create problems, and some in the industry think that the government just shouldn't get so involved here. Dennis Kelleher heads up the financial watchdog group Better Markets. He says there's another reason - if states set up plans that are relatively 12 low-cost for workers, that might push the whole market in that direction and hurt financial firms' profits.

FIRVIDA: It's all about protecting profits, and that's all this fight was really about.

ARNOLD: For its part, the AARP says it's going to continue to work with states to implement 13 more of these retirement savings programs for workers. Chris Arnold, NPR News.