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Positions and Views on Other Issues where Information is Available: |
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| Social Security & Pensions |
Positions and Views |
| Social Security, a General Statement |
Biden: Senator Biden understands that after working hard your whole life, you should not have to worry about losing your retirement income.
He opposes plans to privatize Social Security that would shift risks to workers and cut benefits to all future retirees.
He has authored tough new criminal penalties to prevent the kind of fraud that cost 15,000 Enron employees their retirement savings.
He supports strengthening the government backstop against pension bankruptcies.
He backs efforts to make it easier for workers to save for retirement years.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Long Term Viability of Social Security |
Biden: Social Security does not face an immediate crisis. With no changes, Social Security can pay full benefits through 2041. After that it can pay 74 percent of benefits. Joe Biden would bring Democrats and Republicans together to agree on options for keeping Social Security solvent
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |
| Privatizing Social Security |
Biden: Senator Biden opposes plans to privatize Social Security that would shift risks to workers and cut benefits to all future retirees.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Social Security Trust Fund |
Biden: No Response |
| Raising the Retirement Age or Reducing Payment Levels |
Biden: No Response |
| Means Testing for Social Security Payments |
Biden: Raise the cap on income subject to the Social Security tax so that the most wealthy shoulder their fair share ($97,500 is the maximum for 2007). This approach worked in1983 when a bipartisan group of senior leaders from both parties put politics aside to fix Social Security.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |
| Tax on Social Security Benefits |
Biden: No Response |
| Pensions, a General Statement |
Biden: Senator Biden supports strengthening the government backstop against pension bankruptcies.
He backs efforts to make it easier for workers to save for retirement years.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Pension Reform |
Biden: Joe Biden would require retirement plan administrators to disclose fees and clearly identify the name, risk and investment objective of investment options. He would direct the Department of Labor to review compliance with these disclosure requirements and refer violations to the SEC and other enforcement agencies.
Joe Biden is working to protect workers from pension bankruptcy by strengthening the government backstop and insisting that pensions are adequately funded.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 12/01/2007 |
| Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation |
Biden: No Response |
| Corporate Defined Benefit Pension Defaults |
Biden: No Response |
| Key Employee Retention Plans |
Biden: Executives should not have better pension protections during bankruptcy than workers. Joe Biden would tighten restrictions on "Key Employee Retention Plans" which are used to give executives bonuses while companies walk away from employee pensions. He would make any increases in executive pay and benefits up to two years before bankruptcy subject to special scrutiny by the court. Joe Biden would require that a company's foreign and domestic assets must be considered by the court when it considers voiding employees' contracts. Management should not be able to move assets overseas when they get into financial trouble and renege on their obligations to workers.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |
| Individual Retirement Accounts |
Biden: Require Employers That Don't Provide Retirement Plans To Allow Employees To Contribute To Individual Retirement Accounts. In 2006, 40 percent of workers did not have any form of pension coverage – that's around 75 million workers who have no access to an employ-provided retirement plan. Joe Biden would require employers who do not adopt a 401(k) or other retirement plan to offer employees the ability contribute to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) by payroll deposit making it easier to save small amounts on a predictable, regular basis.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |
| 401(k) Plans |
Biden: Expand Automatic Enrollment in 401(k)s. Defined contribution retirement plans do not cover workers unless they sign up. Only about 1 in 4 eligible employees participate in such plans – missing out on tax advantages of saving and employer matching contributions. Automatic enrollment requires employees to opt-out of such plans – instead of requiring them to opt-in. Automatic enrollment has been shown to raise participation rates. Joe Biden would expand automatic enrollment in 401(k)s by increasing automatic enrollment by small and mid-sized employers, by expanding automatic enrollment to existing employees, and by increasing automatic contribution amounts.
The average worker can expect to change jobs several times which can result in navigating and managing several different retirement plans and investments. Joe Biden would make rollover of 401(k)s automatic so that accounts follow individuals.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |
| Savers' Credit |
Biden: Most retirement contributions are excluded from taxable income until they are distributed. Higher income taxpayers disproportionately benefit from tax deductions that promote savings because the value of tax incentives depends on what bracket the taxpayer is in – the higher the tax rate, the more the subsidies are worth. Those in lower tax brackets who most need to save have less benefit. Joe Biden would extend the Savers' Credit to make it a 50 percent refundable credit of up to $2,000 and index it to inflation to provide incentives to low-income households. Families with incomes below $50,000 that deposited $4,000 into a retirement account would receive a $2,000 match through the refund.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |
| Other Retirement Improvements |
Biden: Invest $500 In A Kids Account For Every Child Born After December 31, 2008. Joe Biden would create individual Kids Accounts for every child endowed with an initial contribution of $500 from the government. Kids Accounts would be redeemable for education expenses, home ownership or retirement beginning at age 18. Unused funds can be automatically rolled over into Individual Retirement Accounts at age 18.
Parents and Grandparents Could Contribute $1,000 A Year. Joe Biden would permit parents and grandparents to make a $1,000 after-tax contribution into Kids Accounts. Earnings in the account would be tax free.
Match Contributions For Low-Income Children. To encourage saving and investment Joe Biden would provide a dollar-for-dollar match on the first $500 contributed to the account for children in households earning below the national median income.
Kids Account Holders Would Repay Initial Deposit At Age 30. Joe Biden would require children who receive Kids Accounts to repay the government's deposit when they reach 30.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |