Dem Led Senate Crushes Biden’s Hopes
The Republican Party scored a major victory on Wednesday when the U.S. Senate voted to kill the Biden administration’s attempt to push ESG investment practices on millions of American retirement accounts through a new rule from the Labor Department. By a vote of 50-46, Republicans were joined by Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) to pass the joint resolution that was approved by a bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The rule, which the bipartisan group of lawmakers have now voted to end, would have allowed woke fiduciaries to move as many as two-out-of-three American workers’ retirement accounts into ESG-concerned funds that prioritize woke standards (such as gender and racial equality) rather than profitability. Those whose accounts end up coopted by the values of ESG also often pay higher fees, have been shown to see a smaller ROI than traditional funds, and ultimately end up carrying more risk.
The Republican Party has long opposed such a rule, arguing that it would put Americans’ retirement savings at risk and prioritize woke standards over financial outcomes. The party also argued that it would be an attempt to circumvent the democratic process and push a progressive agenda.
“Today’s bipartisan vote makes clear what we have long said: ESG is an attempt to circumvent the democratic process to advance an inherently political agenda,” remarked Derek Kreifels, the CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation following the vote.
The White House threatened Congress on Monday that the president would veto the resolution if it successfully passed, but it remains to be seen if President Biden will accept the will of the American people as voiced by their elected representatives. Regardless of Biden’s final decision on the resolution, Republicans praised Congress for listening to their constituents and restated their commitment to fighting the integration of woke standards in financial decisions.
“Today, Congress sent a clear, bipartisan message to the Biden Administration and Wall Street elites that the American peoples’ voice is being heard and we will no longer allow the administrative state and their billionaire buddies to weaponize our retirements against us,” Hild declared.
Indeed, as Senator John Barrasso explained on Tuesday, Biden’s attempt to advance ESG goals on retirement accounts is a “middle finger to middle-class Americans.”
A) The Senate has aligned with the House repeal a Biden Administration rule mandating that retirement funds consider environmental, social and corporate governance, or ESG, issues in their investment decisions.
The vote was 50-46.— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) March 1, 2023
