“NAPA is one of the most successful fiduciary organizations in the country,” Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., Chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said at the outset of her speech to DC Fly-In Forum delegates in Washington on Wednesday.
Praising auto-enrollment, among other relatively recent innovations in the retirement plan space, she related a personal anecdote about how 401(k)s personally helped her family.
“I have a sister that worked in a factory and lives in a trailer at the end of a dirt road,” Foxx said. “The company offered a 401(k), and she put very little in, maybe $1.20 each week, but even that was enough money to help complement her Social Security benefits.”
Mentioning that she is proud that she and her colleagues pushed SECURE 2.0 “across the finish line” with over 90 retirement plan-related provisions, she acknowledged the concerns over specific technical errors.
Adding that she is vehemently opposed to “expensive, meaningless, and burdensome complexity in operating retirement plans, she pointed specifically to paper disclosure requirements, noting that she once told a paper statement and disclosure supporter with another organization that, “You are the problem!”
“These rules are set by people who don’t have to implement them and have no idea how to do so,” she said to audience applause. “It’s maddening.”
Foxx and her colleagues are working with the Treasury Department to fix the technical errors, but she called the process “complicated, which it always is with the federal government.”
Mentioning the Roth catch-up provisions, Foxx said she understands that recordkeepers do not have access to the payroll data they need to implement that catch-up provision, and the administrative systems can’t adapt to the timeline Congress has set.
“We really are having trouble getting people in this administration to make a decision on anything that makes sense. It is a true problem for us, but don’t hesitate to come to us at your Congress to discuss your concerns so they’re widely known. The more people who understand this, the better off we are.”
Foxx told attendees that it’s essential for NAPA members to explain the issues to congressional staff so they can work together to resolve them.
Turning to Social Security, she argued that the government has convinced people they can live off of Social Security.
“They cannot,” she exclaimed. “We need you to keep pushing people to solve for retirement. We have a volatile economy, but people need to be steady in their savings. That’s why we need you to do what you do.”
“The entire Western world has a pension sustainability problem,” she concluded. “Congress cannot continue to treat pensions as a political hot potato, or we face a similar fate. I applaud you for the work you’re doing and say to you, don’t be discouraged that Congress doesn’t act as fast as it should. Be out there talking to people about what they need to be doing and talking to members of Congress to show them what needs to be done. Thank you all for what you do, and God bless you.”
