Senators offer bipartisan bill on retirement savings for grad students

by Naomi Jagoda - 06/19/17 1:10 PM ET

A bipartisan group of senators on Monday offered legislation aimed at helping graduate students save for retirement.

The bill — from Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) — would allow graduate students to put money from stipends and fellowships into tax-deferred individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Under current law, stipend and fellowship funds are not treated as compensation that can be deposited into an IRA.

“This bipartisan bill opens a door for students who want to do the right thing and start saving early for their futures,” Warren said in a news release. Warren and Lee previously introduced the bill last year.

{mosads}The bill’s reintroduction comes as the White House and congressional Republicans aim to pass a tax reform bill by the end of the year. GOP leaders on the tax reform effort have said they want a bill to preserve and streamline incentives for retirement savings.

“Encouraging both educational progress and retirement savings is a win-win,” said Scott, a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee. “I’m glad to join a bipartisan group of Senators in this effort to make a commonsense adjustment to our tax code.”

The senators’ bill is endorsed by several businesses and labor groups, including Fidelity Investments, the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Teachers.

Tags Elizabeth Warren Mike Lee Ron Wyden Tim Scott

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