Anna Eshoo: “thanks and congratulations, first, to the two major sponsors of this bill, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cardin) and…”

“thanks and congratulations, first, to the two major sponsors of this bill, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cardin) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman). I think the quality of this bill and the amount of support that it enjoys today really speaks to the eloquence of their work. We come to the floor every day to cast votes. Sometimes we hold our noses over what we have to vote for; other times we say, if I had designed this, it would be so much better. This is a very, very good bill, it is a sound bill, and I cannot help but think of FDR's quote that ``True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.'' I think that those are the two things that this bill provides for millions of workers in our country by making retirement security more available to them. Our savings rate in our country is at an historically low level, and this is a critically important piece of legislation to advance people's being able to save and encouraging them to. It also addresses the needs of an increasingly mobile workforce. The average worker today will hold nine jobs by the age of 32, and workers typically do not stay in any job for more than 5 years until they are 40 years old. So portability and being able to accumulate benefits and then move it from job to job, I think is essential. So, Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support this legislation.”