The House Committee on Small Business in the fall held a hearing on the state of retirement savings for small employers, noting administrative complexity and costs could discourage many businesses from offering the benefit.

President Barack Obama opened this years congressional election season with a State of the Union message centered on economic inequalities, a theme harder to sustain in scattered House and Senate contests.

Democrats can speak hopefully of a new populist moment centered on proposals such as a higher minimum wage, but this is the third or fourth time that the president has attempted to launch a new populist, progressive moment.