{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=6E7249ED-641F-4CCE-88B0-FC36C7771D01", "Klobuchar & Schmitt Introduce Bipartisan ABLE Employment Flexibility Act", "2025-08-14", "2025", "2025-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "MN", "Amy Klobuchar", "K000367", "www.klobuchar.senate.gov", "klobuchar", "https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO) reintroduced the ABLE Employment Flexibility Act, their bipartisan legislation which would allow employers to contribute to an employee\u2019s Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account \u2013 a tax-free savings account for people with disabilities and their families \u2013 in lieu of a traditional 401(k) or other defined contribution retirement plan. In the Senate, the bill is co-sponsored by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Jerry Moran (R-KS).\n\nBy permitting employer contributions to ABLE accounts, the bill helps workers with disabilities to save for their long-term needs and build financial security through employment while preserving flexibility for employers.\n\n\u201cThis bipartisan legislation will help people with disabilities and their families build a better life, save for the future, and invest without losing access to their federal benefits, like Medicaid, that they count on,\u201d said Klobuchar.\n\n\u201cIndividuals with disabilities who work deserve the same access to employment benefits as their peers. This bipartisan legislation provides greater flexibility to employers and allows workers with disabilities to build secure financial futures without jeopardizing the federal benefits they need to live fulfilling and productive lives,\u201d said Schmitt.\n\n\u201cSince our passage of the ABLE Act more than a decade ago, it has empowered tens of thousands of people with disabilities to bolster their financial stability and support critical needs. Allowing employers to contribute to workers\u2019 ABLE accounts offers these Americans another way to grow their savings and strengthen their economic independence \u2013 ensuring success in the workplace and security in retirement like everyone else,\u201d said Van Hollen.\n\n\u201cThe savings plan we created through the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act in 2014 has expanded savings options for Americans with disabilities by removing burdensome barriers within federal entitlement programs,\u201d said Moran. \u201cBy enabling employers to make retirement contributions directly into employees\u2019 ABLE accounts, our legislation will build on the success of the ABLE program and help empower individuals with disabilities to more easily plan and save for their future.\u201d\n\nKlobuchar has long advocated for individuals with disabilities.\n\nIn 2014, Klobuchar fought to pass theAchieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act to establish ABLE accounts, which allow people with disabilities and their families to save and invest through tax-free savings accounts without losing eligibility for federal programs like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).\n\nSince, Klobuchar has supported legislation to improve upon the ABLE Act, including the ABLE Age Adjustment Act, the ABLE Financial Planning Act, the ENABLE Act, the ABLE Awareness Act, and the ABLE MATCH Act.\n\nIn 2020, the bipartisan Klobuchar-backed ALS Disability Insurance Access Act was introduced to eliminate the five-month waiting period before Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.\n\nIn 2016, she fought to pass the Steve Gleason Act which amends Medicare to make permanent the elimination of a specified payment cap under the Medicare program with respect to speech generating devices. People with ALS quickly lose their ability to speak and rely entirely upon speech generating devices to live and communicate.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:02:47Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=6E7249ED-641F-4CCE-88B0-FC36C7771D01"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6255190130323172, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}