CORONAVIRUS: Murray Highlights Steps to Give Families More Financial Flexibility to Weather Crisis
Senator Murray secures steps in bipartisan Senate bill to increase people’s flexibility to manage their retirement resources to navigate COVID-19 crisis
Bill waives penalty for people forced to withdraw retirement savings early
Bill allows people who would otherwise be forced by age requirements to start drawing from their retirement plan to hold off amid market uncertainty
Murray: “We need to make sure workers, retirees, and families across the country have every possible tool available to manage their financial situation and weather this crisis.”
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement regarding steps she pushed for in the new bipartisan coronavirus response package passed by the Senate to increase people’s flexibility to manage their retirement resources.
“We need to make sure workers, retirees, and families across the country have every possible tool available to manage their financial situation and weather this crisis. That’s why I fought to give people more flexibility in managing their retirement resources during this crisis so struggling families can make the decisions they need to make ends meet without fear of being penalized. I’m going to keep working to get these steps signed into law and to make sure we do even more to help families across the country as they deal with the financial ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Senator Murray fought to secure provisions in the latest bipartisan package that give people additional flexibility to make the right financial decisions for themselves and their families during the COVID-19 crisis. These provisions would:
- Waive the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty faced by people younger than age 59½ who must take a distribution from their retirement savings to weather this crisis. Additionally people could include any distributions in their income over a 3-year period.
- Waive required minimum distributions from retirement plans and IRAs for 2020—meaning people who would otherwise be forced by age requirements to start drawing on their retirement savings amid the current down market, could choose to wait until conditions are more favorable.
Senator Murray also worked to make sure the package provides temporary relief for businesses to help them make ends meet and remain in a position to keep their promises to workers and retirees by including provisions to:
- Delay contributions in single employer pensions until the end of this calendar year.
- Give the Department of Labor authority to delay ERISA filing deadlines for employers during the crisis.
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