Axios Event: Bipartisan support for retirement reform

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Most Americans are not saving enough for retirement and key Republican and Democrat lawmakers agree that there's a need for a better system to help people save money earlier in their careers.

• Axios senior economics reporter Courtenay Brown and political reporter Stef Kight moderated conversations with Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), AARP chief operating officer Scott Frisch and Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives executive director Angela M. Antonelli on this issue at an event.

Why it matters: About 70 million American workers don't have access to a retirement plan where they work, said Sen. Hickenlooper.

• AARP's Scott Frisch noted that 20% of people over 50 say they have no retirement savings at all, and 60% say they don't feel like they'll have enough savings to retire at whatever age they choose to do so.

What they're saying: "Reaching across the aisle was the obvious thing, because this is not a partisan issue," Hickenlooper said of his recent work on the Retirement Savings for Americans Act.

• The Retirement Savings for Americans Act is proposed legislation that aims to help people who work at businesses that don't offer retirement savings plans save for retirement, primarily low and middle-income workers.

Georgetown University's Angela Antonelli said that she has also been seeing a lot of bipartisan work happening among policymakers to come to an agreement around funding for Social Security benefits.

• Antonelli said that she is confident they will reach a solution, because "I don't think they have any other choice," she said, also noting that 50% of older Americans today rely on Social Security for 50% of their income.

What we're watching: Gaps in the workforce that will appear as Baby Boomer and Gen X workers begin to retire could potentially be filled by older workers or influxes of "excess retirees" who have retired and decided to return to the workforce, Frisch said.

• "The value of the older worker is really important to business," Frisch said.