"Increases in retirement savings-plan contribution limits and improvements in pension portability – like the ones in this bill – are urgently needed," said Dr. Timothy Grayson, who chairs IEEE-USA’s Engineering Employment Benefits Committee. "This will enable increasingly mobile American workers, including engineers and scientists, to save more for retirement and to take their earned benefits with them when they change jobs in today’s fast-moving economy."

The Portman-Cardin bill, which enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the last Congress, passed the House twice last year (401 to 25 on July 19th and 401 to 20 on September 19th). The pension reform provisions were also included in an omnibus House-Senate tax relief package that was debated, but not enacted, in the closing days of the 106th Congress. The new bill will:

• Increase the current $2,000 contribution limit (established in 1981) for deductible and non-deductible IRAs to $5,000 in $1,000 annual increments.

• Increase 401(k), 403(b), section 457 and salary-reduction Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) contribution limits from $10,500 to $15,000 and SIMPLE contribution limits from $6,000 to $10,000.

• Allow older workers to make "catch-up" contributions of up to $5,000 a year to 401(k)-type plans and up to $1,500 to IRAs.

• Reduce vesting requirements for employer matching contributions to defined contribution plans from 5 to 3 years and improve pension portability by facilitating transfers of earned benefits among and between defined-contribution plans and IRAs.

IEEE-USA’s Grayson cited U.S. Department of Labor research findings that two-thirds of American workers who participate in employer-sponsored plans can lose as much as 50 percent of their benefits under current patterns of job mobility and pension coverage. The Portman-Cardin proposal will help fix that problem by making it easier to transfer earned benefits from one employer’s plan to another when workers change jobs, and from one employment sector to another if they change careers.

"Although I’m looking forward to a productive career with my current employer, statistics indicate that I’m likely to change jobs three or four more times before I retire," Grayson said. "Unless I can transfer my earned benefits to future employer’s plans or roll them over into an IRA, I stand to lose a substantial part of my retirement savings."

Grayson joined other national engineering society representatives in praising Congressmen Portman and Cardin (and the 228 other Republican, Democratic and Independent co-sponsors) for crafting such a comprehensive pension reform proposal. In addition to raising contribution limits and improving pension portability, the Portman-Cardin bill will help to expand pension coverage by simplifying complex minimum distribution, non-discrimination and top-heavy rules.

"These burdensome regulatory requirements currently discourage many employers – especially small and mid-sized businesses – from offering retirement savings programs for their employees," Grayson said.