Pensions for All Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill defines key terms for the Pensions for All Act: covered retirement program (comparable to FERS), employer and employee (per ERISA), FERS, and Secretary (of Labor), mandates every employer to either provide a covered retirement program comparable to FERS or enroll employees in FERS, with the same requirement for self-employed individuals, and allows annual switching between the two, and amends 5 U.S.C. 8401 to open FERS to non-federal employees and self-employed individuals by defining covered non-Federal employer, covered non-Federal employee, and covered self-employed individual, and expanding. It relies on mandate, tax credits, tax penalty, and eligibility expansion. The main policy areas are Labor, Finance, and Tax.
Who Benefits and How
Workers without retirement plans could gain revenue opportunities, Small employers with gross receipts under $25M could see lower costs, and Small employers making pension contributions could see lower costs.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Self-employed individuals without retirement plans could face higher costs, Noncompliant employers could face higher costs, and Employers failing to provide retirement plans could face higher costs.
Key Provisions
- Defines key terms for the Pensions for All Act: covered retirement program (comparable to FERS), employer and employee (per ERISA), FERS, and Secretary (of Labor).
- Mandates every employer to either provide a covered retirement program comparable to FERS or enroll employees in FERS, with the same requirement for self-employed individuals, and allows annual switching between the two...
- Amends 5 U.S.C. 8401 to open FERS to non-federal employees and self-employed individuals by defining covered non-Federal employer, covered non-Federal employee, and covered self-employed individual, and expanding...
- Creates new IRC Section 36A providing a refundable tax credit of up to 50% of qualified pension contributions for small employers (gross receipts under $25M) and self-employed individuals (income under $75K), phasing...
- Creates full text of new IRC Section 36A specifying the credit mechanics: 50% of qualified pension contributions with phase-down for employers above $25M gross receipts and individuals above $75K income, with eligible...
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill defines key terms for the Pensions for All Act: covered retirement program (comparable to FERS), employer and employee (per ERISA), FERS, and Secretary (of Labor), mandates every employer to either provide a covered retirement program comparable to FERS or enroll employees in FERS, with the same requirement for self-employed individuals, and allows annual switching between the two, and amends 5 U.S.C. 8401 to open FERS to non-federal employees and self-employed individuals by defining covered non-Federal employer, covered non-Federal employee, and covered self-employed individual, and expanding.
Key Policy Areas
Labor, Finance, Tax
Primary Purpose
The bill defines key terms for the Pensions for All Act: covered retirement program (comparable to FERS), employer and employee (per ERISA), FERS, and Secretary (of Labor), mandates every employer to either provide a covered retirement program comparable to FERS or enroll employees in FERS, with the same requirement for self-employed individuals, and allows annual switching between the two, and amends 5 U.S.C. 8401 to open FERS to non-federal employees and self-employed individuals by defining covered non-Federal employer, covered non-Federal employee, and covered self-employed individual, and expanding.
Policy Domains
Sections 2-3 — Definitions and Retirement Plan Mandate
Identified Gains
- Workers without retirement plans
- Small employers with gross receipts under $25M
- Small employers making pension contributions
- Self-employed individuals without retirement plans
- Self-employed individuals making pension contributions
Identified Costs
- Self-employed individuals without retirement plans
- Noncompliant employers
- Employers failing to provide retirement plans
- All private sector employers
- Self-employed individuals
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Sanders introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
All employers, All private sector employers, Employers failing to provide retirement plans
FERS / Thrift Savings Plan, Federal Treasury, Federal government (tax revenue)
Self-employed individuals earning under $75K, Self-employed individuals making pension contributions, Self-employed individuals without retirement plans
Positive-direction: Self-employed individuals earning under $75K, Self-employed individuals making pension contributions, Small employers making pension contributions, Small employers with gross receipts under $25M
Negative-direction: Self-employed individuals without retirement plans
Existing employees, Non-federal employees at companies without comparable plans, Self-employed individuals without retirement plans
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "opm_director"
- → Director of the Office of Personnel Management
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Treasury
Note: "The Secretary" refers to the Secretary of Labor in sections 2-3, but to the Secretary of the Treasury in sections 5-6 (tax code provisions).
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A retirement program other than FERS that the Secretary of Labor determines provides benefits comparable to FERS.
As defined in section 3 of ERISA (29 U.S.C. 1002).
The Federal Employees Retirement System under chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code.
An employer not part of the Federal Government that does not have a retirement plan the Secretary of Labor determines is comparable to FERS.
A self-employed individual not enrolled in a retirement plan comparable to FERS.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology