"Fundamental changes to federal and private retirement plans have made saving for retirement more complicated and less certain," Conrad said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. 

"Changes in private companies' retirement plans, complex federal laws and lack of retirement education mean that only 46 percent of all workers reported having access to a workplace retirement savings plan, and only 38 percent were currently contributing, according to a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. The Bipartisan Policy Center's Personal Savings Initiative will devise specific recommendations to begin to remedy these shortcomings."

Over the next year, the initiative will create a package of realistic policy recommendations to address the future savings needs of Americans and will model the recommendations' impact on retirement security and the federal budget. The final recommendations will be released in early 2015.

"Social Security plays a central role in retirement.  For the elderly in the lower half of income levels, Social Security makes up 85 percent of retirement income," Lockhart said at the press conference.

"Researchers across the political spectrum have come to the same conclusions – a significant portion of Americans are on track to have a lower standard of living than they do now and many of these households risk running short of money for basic necessities, like health care and housing."

Conrad and Lockhart will lead a group of commissioners that includes a broad range of political and industry perspectives, including financial experts, business leaders, former elected officials, academics and other key stakeholders. The group will meet for the first time in June.