Rescue Plan Draft Expands Retirement References

The draft of the Trouble Assets Relief Program bill on the Senate Banking Committee Web site makes a number of references to retirement plans.

The authors of the original Treasury Department draft, posted Monday on the Web site of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, Washington, did not mention retirement plans.

The authors of a revision posted Monday on the Web site of the House Financial Services Committee states that one purpose of the TARP would be to protect individual investors, including retirement plan investors.

In a revision posted Thursday on the Senate Banking Committee site , Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the committee, adds a section stating that “nothing in this Act prevents the [Treasury] Secretary from protecting the retirement security of Americans by purchasing troubled assets that a financial institution holds or manages on behalf of a cash or deferred arrangement that meets the requirements of section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, pension, or other retirement plan.”

Dodd also has added a paragraph that would require that the Treasury secretary use the TARP authority to buy troubled assets from financial institutions in a manner that would minimize the long-term harm to the savings and pensions of individuals.

The Dodd draft does not refer directly to life insurance, health insurance or annuities.