2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act

Congress Passes Omnibus Bill; Including Secure 2.0 Act of 2022

On December 23, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 upon passage in the House by a vote of 225 to 201. This followed passage in the Senate on December 22 by a vote of 68 to 29. The heavily negotiated omnibus legislative package includes all appropriations for the federal 2023 fiscal year. The bill does not include any major tax provisions or tax extenders. However, the omnibus bill does include the long-awaited SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 builds upon the provisions of the original SECURE Act from 2019 and further ensures that more Americans can save for retirement and increase the amount they are able to save. The bill does this by expanding upon automatic enrollment programs, helping to ensure that small employers can easily and efficiently sponsor plans for employees, and enhancing various credits to make saving for retirement beneficial to both plan participants and plan sponsors. The bill also improves various investment options for plan participants, streamlines plan administration for plan fiduciaries, and makes important changes to required minimum distributions that will help retirees with plan selections and decisions that will enhance their ability to make better use of their retirement savings.

A follow-up to the original SECURE Act has long enjoyed broad bipartisan support in Congress, and was expected to be attached to any legislation that has been proposed for the entirety of the 117th Congress. In March the House passed a version of it, colloquially known as the SECURE Act 2.0 but officially known as the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022. The Senate Finance Committee proposed an even larger version later in 2022, known as The Enhancing American Retirement Now (EARN) Act. This final version, which officially adopts the SECURE 2.0 Act moniker, closely aligns with that broader Senate version.

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