With Congress racing to overhaul Medicare, cut taxes and eliminate the deficit, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison asked Thursday that lawmakers not forget the American homemaker.

The Texas Republican called a news conference on the Capitol lawn to push for a bill that would give homemakers - men and women - the same rights to establish an Individual Retirement Account, or IRA, as their working spouses.

Calling together a bipartisan group of women lawmakers, Hutchison called on congressional leaders to get the bill “off the back burner.”

“We feel it is important that homemakers have the same retirement security as those of us who work outside the home have,” said Hutchison.

People who work for companies can set aside up to $2,000 a year in an IRA, and two-income couples can set aside $4,000. But single-earner families are limited to $2,250.

Hutchison wants one-earner families to have the right to set aside the full $4,000, just like a couple who both work outside the home.