美国国家公共电台 NPR Republicans Scrap Rule For Small-Business Retirement Plans

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Senate Republicans have voted to scrap¹ an Obama-era policy that lets states offer retirement² savings³ plans to millions of small business employees. Here's NPR's Chris Arnold.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE⁴: Many small businesses say that they can't afford to set up retirement savings plans for their workers, such as 401k plans. And that's a big reason why so many Americans aren't saving.

CRISTINA MARTIN FIRVIDA: There are 55 million Americans who have no way to save for their retirement at work.

ARNOLD: That's Cristina Martin Firvida with the AARP. She says when bigger companies automatically enroll⁵ workers in retirement plans, the vast majority of people stick with it and keep saving. They could opt⁶ out, but they don't. And if you did the same thing for workers at small businesses...

FIRVIDA: They would be 15 times more likely to save for retirement if they could do that straight out of their paycheck.

ARNOLD: So Oregon, California, Illinois and five other states have now passed laws to help small businesses enroll workers in state-designed plans. That was given a boost by an Obama administration policy, which Congress just overturned.

TOBIAS READ: I'm just disappointed.

ARNOLD: Tobias Read is the state treasurer⁷ of Oregon. He explains that the Obama administration created guidance for states, and it said basically if you do the savings plans this way, you're within federal law. By rescinding⁸ that, Congress has now created uncertainty⁹, and that could discourage more states from passing these laws. Oregon is facing that uncertainty, too. But Read says with 1 million people with no workplace retirement plan, his state is going to push ahead.

READ: We believe we are safely within the law, and we want to take the chance to help working Oregonians.

ARNOLD: One of the first small business owners to take part in the Oregon Saves plan will be Saleem Noorani. He runs two wine-and-beer shops, and he has 11 employees who will automatically be enrolled¹⁰ in the pilot phase of the plan this summer.

SALEEM NOORANI: Well, they're all very excited that they are even being able to participate in the program.

ARNOLD: Noorani says setting up a 401k plan was just too expensive for his small business, but the Oregon plan is free for him. His workers will choose from a few different investment options. It's actually a lot like state-designed 529 college savings plans. The state creates the framework, but the investments are managed by a private company. In this case, it's State Street bank.

NOORANI: I was so glad to see Oregon come up with this plan where it makes it so easy and so simple.

ARNOLD: Which is why Noorani is also very confused about why Republicans in Congress have now voted to make these plans harder for states to set up.

NOORANI: I'm a Republican, and I can't find any logical answer for it. When you see something that's such a great solution out there, why do you go around and sabotage¹¹ it?

ARNOLD: The financial industry has been lobbying Congress to get rid of the Obama policy. Lisa Bleier is with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

LISA BLEIER: Every state is coming up with all different ideas as to how they're going to do it.

ARNOLD: Bleier says that will create problems, and some in the industry think that the government just shouldn't get so involved here. Dennis Kelleher heads up the financial watchdog group Better Markets. He says there's another reason - if states set up plans that are relatively¹² low-cost for workers, that might push the whole market in that direction and hurt financial firms' profits.

FIRVIDA: It's all about protecting profits, and that's all this fight was really about.

ARNOLD: For its part, the AARP says it's going to continue to work with states to implement¹³ more of these retirement savings programs for workers. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

1 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

2 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

3 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

6 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

7 treasurer   

n.司库，财务主管

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith was succeeded by Mrs.Jones as treasurer.琼斯夫人继史密斯先生任会计。
• The treasurer was arrested for trying to manipulate the company's financial records.财务主管由于试图窜改公司财政帐目而被拘留。

8 rescinding   

v.废除，取消( rescind的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• You realize this effectively kills any chance we have of rescinding that order. 你意识到了这样我们就没机会废除这一命令？ 来自电影对白

9 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

10 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。

12 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

13 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。