Today, Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee Republican Leader Rick Allen (R-GA) released the following statement after President Biden’s Department of Labor (DOL) released a final rule allowing retirement plan managers to consider environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors when making investment decisions and exercising shareholder rights:
“The Biden administration’s new rule jeopardizes the financial security of many retirement savers, especially workers and retirees who may be put into ESG investments by default.
"The new rule overturns the strong protections implemented by the Trump administration, which guarded retirement savers from investment managers seeking to advance social and political objectives unrelated to the financial benefits to workers and retirees.
“The Biden administration is choosing its climate and social agenda over retirees and workers. This is bad news.”
Background: In 2020, the Trump administration clarified the investment duties of retirement plan managers out of concern for the financial well-being of retirees in light of ESG investing trends. The Biden administration announced its intention to reverse these Trump-era protections last October. Reps. Foxx and Allen sent a letter to DOL condemning the Biden administration for making workers and retirees take a back seat to the green lobby and Big Labor.
