In 2019, the SECURE Act passed after it was attached to a year-end spending bill and a 2.0 version will likely have to be attached to some must-pass legislation in order to move as well, sources said. In order to get the minority party in Congress, currently the Republicans, to work with the majority, there must be external pressure demanding action on a certain issue, Mr. Kreps said. "Whether it passes has a lot to do with what the final product looks like and how much industry support there is," he said. "You've got to have people asking for it, otherwise Congress will just never do it."
Mr. Kreps added: "I'm not sure we have that for SECURE 2.0, at the moment at least."
Although retirement security is usually a bipartisan issue in Washington, Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee, wary of imposing requirements on business owners, opposed Mr. Neal's auto retirement plan measure.
But while there was some public discontent between Republicans and Democrats over the auto retirement plan proposal, retirement industry sources expect the two sides to come together in advancing a SECURE Act 2.0 package.
"Even if you get a little bit of friction there, I don't think it comes to something where Republicans and Democrats want to torpedo the bill," Mr. Campbell said.
Ms. Kahn is "still optimistic" a SECURE Act 2.0 will pass this Congress, but with the midterm elections looming in November 2022, time is of the essence. "Obviously the further we get into the year, the closer we get to the midterms, and I think anything becomes more challenging (then)," she said. But "because generally retirement legislation is bipartisan, I'm hoping that this is something that can get attached to something and pass next year."