No one ever said Rob Portman wasn't persistent.

        The Republican congressman from Terrace Park plans to introduce in two weeks his bill increasing the limits on retirement plan contributions — again.

        In addition to raising IRA annual limits to $5,000 from $2,000 and 401(k) annual limits to $15,000 from $10,500, the Portman-Cardin bill also would:

        • Increase retirement plans' portability for job changers.

        • Shorten the time it takes workers to become vested.

        • Let older workers contribute more to catch up.

        • Make it easier for small businesses to provide retirement plans.

        • Require greater disclosure if an employer changes the way pension benefits are accrued, as with cash-balance pensions.

        Sound familiar? It should. Congress has been through all this before. A few times.
       

Different forms
        When Mr. Portman introduces the bill to Congress, it will be for the third time. The House passed the legislation no fewer than five times during the last two years. Each time took a different form or incarnation, but each met a similar go-nowhere fate.

        One was attached to a sweeping tax-cut package vetoed by President Clinton in 1999. Then last year, it was again packaged with a minimum wage and small-business tax-cut package that stagnated in the Senate.

        Determined to get the issue passed — especially during an election year — Mr. Portman and his Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Ben Cardin of Maryland, pushed the bill to the floor on its own.

        As the Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act (HR 1102), the bill was passed by the House of Representatives in mid-July 2000, 401-25. By the time of the vote, the bill had collected about 200 co-sponsors.

        Once in the Senate, however, the once-promising bill lost steam. Mr. Clinton thought the bill constituted too big a tax cut with greater deductible IRA and pretax 401(k) contributions.

        “The Clinton administration never got on board,” Mr. Portman said. “So the Senate, frankly, didn't act. With the administration opposed, it died a slow death instead.”
       

Makes sense
        Mr. Portman began collecting co-sponsors again and says he will reintroduce the bill Feb. 28 or shortly after.

        Mr. Portman said the bill has lined up another 100 Republican and 75 Democratic co-sponsors. President Bush's new administration seems to be backing the plan this time, albeit tepidly. Mr. Portman said Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill told him that he supported the plan's concept, but the priority will be Mr. Bush's sweeping tax cut. Presidential economic adviser Larry Lindsey also supports the bill.

        “But again, it's not the heart and soul of the president's efforts,” Mr. Portman said he was told.

        But that, like any of the obstacles for the last three years, won't stop Rob Portman from trying.

        “I think it makes so much sense,” he said. “The logic behind it is just too strong for it not to happen.”

        Amy Higgins writes about personal finance for the Enquirer. You can reach her at 768-8373; ahiggins@enquirer.com; or Your Money, The Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202.

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