July 28, 2021

Partners in the Funding Our Future coalition call for creation of interagency task force on retirement security

Washington, DC — Today, thirty-one members of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Funding Our Future initiative released a letter urging the Biden-Harris administration to create an inter-agency retirement security task force. The letter expresses the need for a holistic examination of the nation’s retirement readiness, its challenges, and a coordinated policy response. 

“Retirement is a precarious and daunting prospect for many Americans, with an estimated half of households at risk of not being able to maintain their standard of living in retirement.” said Kara Watkins, senior manager of Funding Our Future. “This interagency task force will be an important tool for understanding and addressing the urgent challenges faced by workers as they plan for retirement.”  

“We know that issues like student loan debt, emergency savings, and financial literacy inform households’ long-term financial wellbeing, but they are all dispersed across different executive agencies,” said Jason Fichtner, Chief Economist at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “This task force will bring together leaders from those relevant agencies to address interconnected retirement challenges and collaborate on holistic solutions.” 

The letter calls on the administration to issue an executive order establishing the standing inter-agency task force. The task force will be required to release a biannual report and hold a recurring summit with diverse perspectives from stakeholders and experts. The task force will “look broadly at households’ ability to achieve financial security and save during their working years,” the letter reads, “as well as their ability to sustain a lifetime of income and maintain their standard of living in retirement.”  

The letter’s 31 signees, all Funding Our Future partners, hope the task force will help promote their shared commitment to ensuring a dignified retirement for all Americans. 

Read the letter here.