New federal retirement fund auto-enrolls workers, but gives officials broad power
H.R. 2696 — Retirement Savings for Americans Act of 2025 · Filed by Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) · 9 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 7, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates a new federal retirement savings account system called the American Worker Retirement Fund, automatically enrolling workers at a 3% contribution rate unless they opt out. Employers must enroll qualifying workers, and the government provides a matching tax credit. Workers can withdraw funds as annuities, lump sums, or installments, and can take loans against their accounts. A new federal board and executive director manage the fund's investments.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is establishing a mandatory federal retirement savings vehicle with automatic enrollment and government matching contributions, modeled on the Thrift Savings Plan but applied to the general workforce.
What the text implies
- The involuntary distribution rule (Section 106) requires forced withdrawals for participants whose gross income exceeds IRS thresholds, creating a novel income-based trigger that may surprise high-earning workers and complicate tax planning.
- The bill grants the Executive Director and Board broad regulatory authority to establish contribution limits, withdrawal procedures, and financial literacy requirements with minimal statutory guardrails, concentrating power in unelected officials.
- Automatic enrollment at 3% may disproportionately affect low-wage workers whose budgets are tighter; the bill does not address whether this could increase financial hardship or reduce take-home pay below subsistence levels.
- The fund's governance structure (5-member Board with presidential appointments and legislative recommendations) creates potential for political influence over investment decisions affecting millions of workers' retirement savings.
- Section 206 imposes fiduciary liability on Board members and the Executive Director but explicitly shields them from monetary damages, creating asymmetric accountability where workers bear investment risk but officials face limited personal consequences.
Who it affects
The bill expands retirement savings access for workers without employer plans, which is a public benefit. However, the automatic 3% contribution rate may strain household budgets for low-income workers, and the fund's governance structure gives significant discretion to appointed officials with limited worker representation. The involuntary distribution rule for high-income earners is unusual and may create compliance burdens.
Who stands to gain
- asset management firms (selected as fund managers)
- financial services companies (providing custody, administration, and advisory services)
- insurance companies (if annuity contracts are used for distributions)
- investment advisors and consultants
Named in the bill
American Worker Retirement Fund, American Worker Retirement Investment Board, Executive Director, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Labor, Thrift Savings Plan, Internal Revenue Code Section 25F, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Where it stands
9 cosponsors: 7 Republicans, 2 Democrats.
- Apr 7, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 7, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
12 lobbying clients named this bill on 19 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $28,886,500 in lobbying spend. A filing names 21 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 93% of bills with at least one filing.
Lloyd Smucker, the sponsor, reported $853,756 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $16,950,000 on 1 filing
- AARP — $5,300,000 on 1 filing
- Investment Company Institute — $2,106,510 on 2 filings
- Finseca — $1,080,000 on 2 filings
- Principal Financial Group — $910,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jun 8, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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