Articles
With threat over for now, Congress to continue push for TSP withdrawal options during future shutdowns
Washington,
February 25, 2019
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Federal Employees
Federal News Network |
The threat of another government shutdown in fiscal 2019 has come and gone, but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle aren’t giving up their push to secure a few more financial flexibilities for participants in the Thrift Savings Plan during future lapses in appropriations. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is the latest member of Congress to introduce legislation that would waive the typical penalty that TSP participants would usually incur if they take a hardship withdrawal before a certain age. Cassidy’s bill essentially mimics language that the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, the agency that administers the TSP, had written following 2017’s devastating hurricane season. The legislation would treat a government shutdown as a financial hardship and allow current federal employees under the age of 59-and-a-half to withdraw from their TSP accounts without incurring a 10 percent early withdrawal penalty tax. Reps. Pete Olson (R-Texas), Don Beyer (D-Va.), Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) and Elaine Luria (D-Va.), along with Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), were among the members who had originally introduced or co-sponsored one of these bills. |