Joint Hearing of Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the Committee on Finance on Retirement Plans in the Private Sector
Joint Hearing of Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the Committee on Finance on Retirement Plans in the Private Sector
Senator Grassley. For my part, I welcome all the participants, all of you as experts for your insight on the future of private retirement plan systems, and I particularly welcome Dan Houston of Principal Financial from my home State of Iowa.
It seems to me that all of you people bring a wealth of information and experience and insight to this meeting, a
perspective on how things operate out there in the real world, and you are all here today because of sharing one common goal, improving our private retirement system and the retirement security of Americans everywhere. So I thank you for
participating.
This is a year in which retirement security, thank God, has come very much to the forefront of our national dialogue, and
with the baby boom generation on the cusp of retirement, this dialogue could not have been more timely.
For his part, the President has advanced the dialogue by bringing to the forefront ways to strengthen and improve Social
Security, but we all know that security retirement depends on a heck lot more than Social Security, employment based retirement plans and private savings, our other two critical legs of our three-legged retirement stool. So here today we are going to focus attention on those other two legs. We will focus our attention not just on where we are today but where we should be
going.
Too often here in Congress we find ourselves responding to the latest crisis or doing damage control. This is an
opportunity to be ahead of the curve, and I am pleased also that we are holding this hearing jointly with Senator Baucus
and Senator Kennedy and our two committees, because we have had great success in recent years working retirement security in a bipartisan way. In the 1990s we passed a series of bipartisan pension reforms that brought new life to our private retirement system, and we have to work on those successes of the past, and so we look forward to this forum being a part of our foundation for doing that.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The prepared statement of Senator Grassley follows:]
Prepared Statement of Senator Grassley
Good morning, I want to begin by extending a very warm welcome to all of the participants--many of whom have come from far away, including Dan Houston [how-stin] from Principal Financial in my home State of Iowa--to share their insights on the future of our private retirement plan system.
The people we have in this room really are the experts. They bring a wealth of experience and insight. They bring a perspective on how things operate in the ``real world'' outside of the beltway. And they all are here today because they share one common goal--improving our private retirement system and the retirement security of Americans everywhere.
Thank you to all of you for making time to be here today.
This is a year in which retirement security has taken a central place in our national dialogue. With the baby boom generation on the cusp of retirement, this dialogue could not be more timely. For his part, the President has advanced this dialogue by asking us to look at ways to strengthen and modernize Social Security. But we all know that a secure retirement depends on more than just Social Security. Employment-based retirement plans and private savings are the other two critical legs of our three-legged retirement stool.
Here today, we will focus attention on those other two legs. And we will focus our attention not just on where we are today, but where we should be going tomorrow. Too often, here in Congress, we find ourselves responding to the latest crisis, or trying to do ``damage control'' when we become aware that problems exist.
Today, we have an opportunity to get out of ``reactive mode'' and look proactively to the future. I am pleased also to be here today with Chairman Enzi and Senator Baucus and Senator Kennedy. We all know that the only way to get things done in the United States Senate is to work together.
We've had great success in recent years working on retirement security in a bipartisan manner. In the 1990's, we passed a series of bipartisan pension reforms that began to breathe new life into our private retirement system.
In the bipartisan 2001 tax relief bill, we enacted a bipartisan and far-reaching set of retirement savings reforms. This year, I hope we can work together in a bipartisan way to strengthen Social Security. At the same time, I hope we can work on a ``next generation'' of retirement reforms, including:
And as we look farther into the future here today, I hope that we can continue to work in a bipartisan spirit on these issues, so that we can confront head-on the challenges that we know are sure to lie ahead.
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