WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (NJ-07) Tuesday voted to protect Americans’ retirement savings by blocking a recent Biden Administration rule that would negatively impact private retirement accounts for nearly 152 million Americans.
The House passed H.J. Res. 30 which nullifies the Department of Labor’s (DOL) environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) rule under the Congressional Review Act. Instead of maximizing financial returns, this rule published by the Department of Labor (DOL) allows retirement plan fiduciaries (i.e., retirement plan investment managers) to prioritize environmental, social, and governance factors when making investment decisions and exercising shareholder rights.
This rule removed protections for retirement savers established by the Trump Administration, which ensured that retirement plan fiduciaries must evaluate investments and exercise shareholder rights based only on the financial benefits to the plan and participants.
“We cannot play politics with the retirement savings of workers, retirees and their families, especially at a time when inflation is gutting personal bank accounts and impacting retirement savings. Americans need to have confidence that the financial professionals they entrust to make decisions on their behalf are doing so in their best interest, and not to fulfill someone else’s agenda,” Kean said.
