Obama wants to fund agency that would support IRAs for all workers

President Obama has asked for $1 billion to create a new agency that will support the automatic individual retirement account proposal included in his 2010 budget. Details of this automatic pension program — which would require companies that do not offer retirement plans to enroll their workers in a mandatory direct-deposit IRA — are still being determined. In a brief description of the “Automatic Workplace Pension” proposal disclosed in details of the administration's $3.4 trillion budget yesterday, a funding schedule sketched out the “startup costs of establishing a new agency to administer the program.” The program would carry a $200 million initial expense, and could require up to $1 billion of government resources, according to the budget. “We're trying to make sure that we anticipate all of the program's potential needs,” said Tom Gavin, deputy associate director for strategic planning and communications in the White House Office of Management and Budget. “We need to make sure that we have all of the appropriate resources, both in terms of the infrastructure and the people, so that we can get all the right information about the program to employers — and more importantly employees — to implement the program successfully,” he added. It's not clear at the moment whether this auto IRA agency would be a stand-alone entity, or if it would operate as part of an existing government agency, but Mr. Gavin added that the administration will be working out the specific details of this program over the next few months.