Rhee offered a broader point echoed by several Democrats during the hearing: For most workers, retirement insecurity is driven by wages and cost-of-living pressures that limit the ability to save in the first place.

Rhee said, “Your degree of access to the DC plan system is directly correlated with your income level. Most concerning, those sectors of the economy with the greatest representation of Latino and Black workers, such as hospitality, have the worst access to the DC plan system. The upshot of this is that only 46% of Black working households and 36% of Latino households are currently enrolled in the DC plan system.”