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Establishing two new small business retirement savings
plans. The President proposed and signed into law a new small business
401(k) plan and a new small business IRA plan that employers can
establish with a simple one-page form to provide pensions for up to 10
million workers in small businesses who do not have pension
coverage. |
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Simplifying pension laws for businesses of all sizes. The
President proposed and won enactment of a dramatic simplification of
the pension laws, making it cheaper and easier for employers to set up
pension plans. The Administration has also simplified pension
regulations to encourage employers to establish and maintain these
plans. |
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Making non-profits eligible for 401(k) plans. Tax-exempt
organizations, which employ 9 million people, were made eligible for
401(k) plans in the minimum wage law as the President
proposed. |
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Establishing a retirement savings education campaign. The
President established an ongoing retirement savings education campaign
involving 150 private co-sponsors and expanded it in 1996 to include a
special focus on women’s particular pension needs. |
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Discouraging a one-year wait to begin saving at a new job.
Millions of workers have been forced to wait a year before they could
join their new employers’ pension plan. President Clinton proposed and
won enactment of a change in the law that encourages employers to stop
imposing this one-year wait. |
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Guaranteeing benefits for workers on the move. The
President proposed and won enactment of the law that reduced the
vesting period from 10 to 5 years for multi-employer plans, which
cover union workers — such as construction workers — who frequently
change jobs, immediately guaranteeing 1 million people their
benefits. |
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Securing portability for veterans. The President proposed
and won enactment of changes in tax laws to ensure that veterans are
not penalized and can continue their pension coverage when they return
from service. |
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Making it easier for workers to take their retirement
savings with them when they change jobs. The Clinton Administration is
taking administrative action to give employers a green light to let
their new employees transfer their retirement savings from their
previous employer to their new employer’s plan. |
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Protecting the pension benefits of more than 40 million
Americans. The President won enactment of his Retirement Protection
Act in 1994. This protects the benefits of more than 40 million
workers and retirees in traditional pension plans from being
underfunded. |
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Protecting government employees’ savings from Orange
County-style fiascos. President Clinton won enactment of a law
requiring state and local government retirement savings to be held in
trust so that employees do not lose their savings if the government
declares bankruptcy, as Orange County recently did. |
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Recovering nearly $10 million in savings for workers and
retirees. As a result of the Labor Department’s ongoing nationwide
enforcement effort to protect retirement savings in defined
contribution — 401(k) — plans, nearly $10 million has been recovered
for workers. |