ared Huffman represents California’s 2nd Congressional District which spans the North Coast of the state, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border, and includes Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, and Del Norte counties. He was first elected to Congress in November 2012 and currently serves on the Committee on Natural Resources, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. In the 117th Congress, he chairs the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife, with jurisdiction over federal water projects, fisheries management, coastal zone and oceans policy, and wildlife and endangered species. Jared also founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus to promote sound public policy based on reason, science and moral values, while protecting the secular character of government and championing the value of freedom of thought worldwide.
Our seniors work hard all their lives and pay into Social Security and Medicare; when they retire, they deserve to retire with dignity. They should never have to worry about getting the earned benefits they paid for during their working years. I intend to make sure we keep our promise to our seniors, by making sure Social Security and Medicare continue to provide the financial and health protections for a secure and healthy retirement and continue to assist our most vulnerable.
Strengthening Social Security and Retirement Savings:
To ensure the long term solvency of the Trust Fund and to improve the Social Security benefits, I am a cosponsor of the Social Security 2100 Act to strengthen our retirement system for current and future seniors. The bill would improve benefits, implement a more accurate cost of living formula known as CPI-E, and provide a tax cut for over 10 million beneficiaries. The legislation is fully funded and is estimated by the independent analysis of the Social Security Administration’s Chief Actuary to keep the system solvent beyond the next 75 years.
I also previously introduced the American Savings Account Act, which would ensure that every American worker has additional options available to save for a strong and secure retirement. Currently, 68 million American workers do not have access to a retirement savings plan through their employer. And more than half of American households age 55 and older have no personal retirement savings.
The American Savings Account Act would create a new American Savings Account (ASA), a personal, tax advantaged retirement savings plan modeled after the high-quality Thrift Savings Plan offered to federal workers since 1986 and make it available to every private sector American worker currently without access to an employer-sponsored savings plan such as a 401(k) or 403(b) plan. Under this plan, every American would be auto-enrolled in a portable retirement savings plan that they could tailor to meet their savings preferences and needs.