Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) introduced legislation Thursday aimed at addressing what he called the “retirement crisis” in the United States, proposing a new bill that would guarantee pensions for all American workers—on par with the pension plans provided to members of Congress.
The bill, known as the Pensions for All Act, would require large corporations to provide their workers with a traditional, defined-benefit pension plan that ensures monthly income in retirement. If corporations refuse to offer such plans, they would be required to contribute to a federal retirement system at a level that guarantees employees receive the same benefits offered to lawmakers under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
“If we are serious about addressing the retirement crisis in America, corporations must be required to offer all of their workers a traditional pension plan that guarantees a monthly income in retirement,” Sanders said in a statement. “And if corporations refuse to offer a decent retirement plan, their workers must be allowed to receive the same type of pension that every member of Congress receives.”
“If we can guarantee a defined benefit pension plan for members of Congress, we can and we must provide that same level of retirement security to every worker in America,” he added.
The legislation builds on Sanders’s earlier efforts to expand Social Security benefits and comes as the gap between retirement security for the wealthy and the working class continues to grow. Research cited by Sanders’s office notes that pensions can significantly reduce poverty among seniors, but the number of workers covered by traditional pension plans has plummeted in recent decades. According to data from the Department of Labor, just 9 percent of private-sector workers have access to defined-benefit pension plans today—down from 44 percent in 1975.
“The results for workers have been tragic,” Sanders’s office stated. “In our country today, nearly half of older workers between the ages of 55 and 64 have no savings at all and no idea how they will be able to retire with any shred of dignity or respect.”
The decline of pensions has led to what Sanders and allies call an affordability crisis for older Americans. More than half of seniors live on less than $25,000 a year and have no retirement savings. Over one-fifth of seniors in the U.S. are living in poverty—a far higher rate than in other wealthy nations.
Supporters of the legislation argue that this crisis is not inevitable but the result of decades of corporate greed and political neglect. “We’ve gone from being a country that promised security and dignity in old age to being a country that forces people to work until they’re in the grave,” United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said in a statement. “Pensions have long been the bedrock of retirement for working-class people, but corporate greed has eroded that foundation. The billionaire class gutted pensions in pursuit of profit, and Washington let it happen.”
Fain, whose union has been pushing automakers to restore pensions, contrasted the fate of average workers with that of corporate executives and lawmakers. “CEOs walk away with golden parachutes while working people walk into retirement with nothing,” he said. “Meanwhile, every member of Congress has a guaranteed pension—for life. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for the people who build this country. The retirement crisis is real, and it’s time for Congress to act.”
The legislation also comes as President Donald Trump reportedly prepares to issue an executive order that would give private equity firms easier access to workers’ 401(k) retirement plans. According to The Wall Street Journal, the order is “designed to help make private-market investments more available to U.S. retirement plans,” a move that critics warn would endanger Americans’ savings and increase financial risk.
Oscar Valdés Viera, a policy analyst with Americans for Financial Reform, condemned the proposal. “The retirement system is supposed to serve workers, not Wall Street,” he wrote. “We need policies that strengthen retirement security and allow people to retire with dignity—not policies that invite hidden fees, reduced transparency, and elevated risk. Allowing predatory private equity and private credit funds to infiltrate 401(k)s would result in a massive transfer of wealth from small investors and workers to the richest men on Wall Street.”
Sanders criticized the Trump plan as emblematic of a “rigged retirement system” that enriches the wealthy while abandoning working people. “We can no longer tolerate a rigged retirement system that allows the CEOs of large corporations to receive massive golden parachutes for themselves, while denying workers a pension after a lifetime of work,” he said.
The contrast between the Sanders bill and the Trump administration’s approach underscores two radically different visions for the future of retirement in America. While the Pensions for All Act seeks to create a government-backed floor for retirement security, the Trump plan would further privatize an already fragile system, potentially exposing workers to high-risk investments with limited oversight.
The crisis is exacerbated by recent Republican proposals to raise the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare, along with newly passed legislation that slashes Medicaid and other social programs. Some right-wing figures have even argued that Americans should not expect to retire at all.
As the 2026 election approaches, Sanders is urging Democrats to make retirement security a defining campaign issue. “If Congress can provide over $1 trillion in tax breaks for the top 1 percent and over $900 billion in tax breaks for large corporations,” he said Thursday, “please do not tell me that we cannot afford to make sure that every worker in America can retire with the dignity and the respect they deserve.”
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