A Boston, Mass.-based investment firm is encouraging Congress to pass legislation extending retirement savings coverage to nearly half of all American workers who have no plans through their jobs.

Putnam Investments is pushing for passage of two recently-introduced bills, (H.R 6099 and S. 3760) both require that companies with more than 10 workers automatically enroll their employees in a payroll-deduction IRA (known as auto-IRAs) if they are not already covered by an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

The Senate bill is the Automatic IRA Act of 2010 (S.3760), introduced by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D.N.M.) and co-sponsored by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).

The House bill is the Automatic IRA Act of 2010 (H.R. 6099), introduced by Rep. Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts and co-sponsored by Rep. Pete Stark of California, Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz of Pennsylvania.

“We have a great opportunity to extend coverage to many millions of American workers who have no access to retirement savings plans on the job,” said Putnam’s Chief Executive Officer Robert L. Reynolds in a statement. “This is a smart, low-cost idea that can give almost all working Americans a stake in our free enterprise system and help them secure their own futures at the same time. At the end of the day, all Americans would benefit from having a more inclusive, robust retirement savings system.”

Reynolds, a 30-year industry veteran who has advocated ongoing reform to strengthen America’s overall retirement systems, both public and private, said he believes concrete action is needed soon.

“The stakes are high – and rising – for our country. Americans do want to save more, but have found it difficult to do so in this economy. Millions of people face a serious retirement income gap,” Reynolds said. “We believe the single most effective way to close this gap is to automatically enroll workers in simple, low-cost retirement plans. By passing auto-IRA legislation, Congress could directly lift our national savings rate and help millions more workers achieve greater retirement security. It is the right thing to do.”