The House will take up legislation this week that would scrap President Joe Biden’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rule.
The House will vote on a resolution, sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) and Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), that would nullify the Department of Commerce’s rulemaking allowing fiduciaries to take environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into consideration when choosing retirement investments.
Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions allow for Congress to nullify federal government regulations within 60 legislation days of their rulemaking. CRA resolutions also only require a simple majority, or 51 votes to pass through the Senate.
The resolution has the support of 49 Senate Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), meaning the bill only needs one more Senate Democrat to back the bill to have it be sent to Biden’s desk should the House pass the bill.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, presides over a hearing on February 16, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
While Biden could still veto the CRA resolution should it pass through Congress, the bill’s passage through Congress with bipartisan support would serve as significant pushback on Biden’s ESG agenda.
ESG is the latest vector through which the federal government, Wall Street asset managers, and activist investors push private companies to adopt leftist positions such as combatting climate change, advocating racial justice, and diversity requirements. Breitbart News has cataloged just a few of the incidents in which activist asset managers such as BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street push companies to adopt controversial views.
Heritage Action urged lawmakers to back Barr and Braun’s resolution to nullify the Biden administration’s ESG rule.
Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson said in a written statement on Monday:
This week, Congress will have an opportunity to stand up and defeat a Biden administration rule that would jeopardize the retirement accounts and 401(k)s of more than 150 million American workers. By supporting Senator Braun and Congressman Barr’s CRA resolution, members of Congress can stand up to the progressive mob and protect their constituents from the Left’s ESG agenda.
The Department of Labor’s new rule would allow woke asset managers to use the nearly $11.7 trillion in assets from the retirement accounts of over 150 million Americans to fund the Left’s political agenda. In practice, this means that asset managers are allowed to weaponize American workers’ retirement savings to work against both their financial interests and their values. Biden’s rule is an insult to hardworking American taxpayers and an attempt to violate the important fiduciary requirement of Congress’s Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
“American grassroots demand to see their leaders fight for their values, future financial security, and the futures of their families,” Anderson concluded in her statement. “Heritage Action urges all Senators and Representatives to vote in support of Sen. Braun and Rep. Barr’s resolution to block this anti-worker rule.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
