President Barack Obama sought to make retirement savings easier for more than half of full-time American workers who do not have access to an account through their jobs.
Obama tried, but he did not accomplish his big goal of requiring employers to offer automatic enrollment in Individual Retirement Accounts, or IRAs. The idea behind this is that substantially more workers would save for retirement if they had to opt out of automatic payroll contributions instead of opting in.
Obama pushed, every year, for Congress to pass a bill. But the legislative branch didn't bite.
So Obama pursued smaller solutions within his executive authority.
MyRAs are the new IRAs
The first, and perhaps most significant, came through the Treasury Department in 2014: the creation of the "MyRA" savings account.
These accounts are aimed at workers who are not offered a retirement option from their employers — predominantly in lower-income fields. Bank fees and minimum contribution requirements discourage some middle- and lower-income workers from starting and maintaining a savings account on their own. With a MyRA, someone could start an account backed by the Treasury with as little as $25 and contribute $5 tax-free from each paycheck.
"It's a new savings bond that encourages folks to build a nest egg," Obama said in his 2014 State of the Union address. "MyRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in."
About 20,000 Americans signed up for a MyRA after the program's launch in November 2015, the Treasury Department said.
One year in, that is progress. But it remains a far cry from an estimated 55 million workers without access to a workplace plan and millions more who do not use accounts that are offered.
Teresa Ghilarducci, director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research, gives Obama credit for working within his constraints.
"He was able to really lay the framework for a bold solution to probably the worst economic problem facing working households," she said.
States pursued their own solutions, with Obama's support
As Obama's proposals floundered year after year, some states moved to create auto-enrollment programs on their own.
There was some uncertainty, though, about whether state-backed programs would have to comply with strict requirements for employers under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
In August 2016, Obama's Labor Department issued a new rule clarifying that they did not.
"If the federal government can't move the needle, then we have to do everything possible to encourage innovation that's already happening at the state level," said Tom Perez, Labor Department secretary, in announcing the rule's development.
Five states — California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland and Oregon — had implemented auto-enrollment programs in IRAs for residents without access to a 401(k) plan before the Labor Department rule. Another three — Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington — had come up with similar programs with a marketplace approach.
Legislation has been introduced in 24 additional states, according to AARP.
The Labor Department released a similar proposal for large city and county governments (areas with populations larger than the least populous state of Wyoming). According to the White House, this rule is currently under review.
Tens of millions of Americans are still not offered automatic enrollment in IRAs from employers, but Obama enabled and encouraged more workers to have access to these accounts from the Treasury or their state.
We rate this promise a Compromise.