(NRCC News) – Joe Biden and the Democrats not only want to bring about radical societal change in the name of climate change, they also want you to pay for it.
House Republicans have vowed to fight Joe Biden’s recent veto of a bill that would stop a rule encouraging investment managers for retirement plans to make environmental, social, and governance factors a consideration in investment decisions.
Of course, this is not a sound investment strategy. What it is, however, is a means for the left to finance their radical agenda with the money earned by hard-working, honest Americans.
The rule developed by the Department of Labor encourages investment managers who oversee private retirement plans to consider company’s “ESG” ratings and other woke issues in making investments. The rule gives managers the ability to disregard the whole point of investing money which is, of course, the bottom line.
In response to the rule, the House and Senate passed legislation that would eliminate it and keep the focus of investing on profits.
Naturally, Biden vetoed the bill on Monday and applauded himself for his first veto and claimed on Twitter that “This bill would risk your retirement savings by making it illegal to consider risk factors MAGA House Republicans don’t like.”
“Your plan manager should be able to protect your hard-earned savings — whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene likes it or not,” Biden said.
I just vetoed my first bill.
This bill would risk your retirement savings by making it illegal to consider risk factors MAGA House Republicans don't like.
Your plan manager should be able to protect your hard-earned savings — whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene likes it or not. pic.twitter.com/PxuoJBdEee
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 20, 2023
Just like the majority of what comes out of Biden’s mouth, this is a lie. Republicans are right to stop investment managers from turning retirement accounts into slush funds for progressive pet projects and climate activism.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy wasted no time firing back on Twitter, saying Biden “just sided with woke Wall Street over workers.”
In his first veto, Biden just sided with woke Wall Street over workers. Tells you exactly where his priorities lie.
Now—despite a bipartisan vote to block his ESG agenda—it’s clear Biden wants Wall Street to use your retirement savings to fund his far-left political causes.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) March 20, 2023
McCarthy also slammed Biden’s veto in a statement:
“President Biden’s first veto is against a bipartisan bill that protects retirement savings from political interference. It is clear that President Biden wants Wall Street to use your hard-earned money not to grow your savings, but to fund a far-left political agenda. That will hurt seniors and workers, especially after President Biden’s reckless spending caused record inflation and rapid interest rate hikes,” McCarthy asserted.
Despite being joined by a couple Democrats to pass the measure, Republicans have their work cut out for them in order to override the veto. In order to override it they will need a two-thirds majority. The initial House vote to pass the bill was 216-204 with 13 members not voting. In order to override the veto they would need to get 291 votes out of the 435 members of the House. In a chamber where Democrats are largely lockstep, that could prove near impossible.
In the Senate, the bill passed with a 50-46 vote. The override would require 67 senators to vote with the GOP against Biden. Again, the odds are not favorable.
Joe Biden’s first veto as president: letting retirement fund managers prioritize ESG scams over the best-performing investments.
Why is he playing games with working people’s retirement money? https://t.co/KaAex5TMDy
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) March 20, 2023
Biden’s first veto is a reflection of his admin’s failed tenure: allowing financial managers to prioritize a woke, ESG agenda over ensuring the best return for your retirement savings.
I’ll be voting to override the president’s veto of this important bill later this week.
— Congressman Ben Cline (@RepBenCline) March 20, 2023
In the Senate, Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and John Tester of Montana, were the only two to join Republicans in passing the bill. The two remarked in a statement that Biden’s veto shows he “continues to prioritize their radical policy agenda over the economic, energy and national security needs of our country, and it is absolutely infuriating.”
“The Administration’s unrelenting campaign to advance a radical social and environmental agenda is only exacerbating these challenges. This ESG rule will weaken our energy, national and economic security while jeopardizing the hard-earned retirement savings of 150 million West Virginians and Americans,”
“Despite a clear and bipartisan rejection of the rule from Congress, President Biden is choosing to put his Administration’s progressive agenda above the well-being of the American people.”
Biden’s veto message claimed that there was “extensive evidence showing that environmental, social and governance factors can have a material impact on markets, industries and businesses.”
“But the Republican-led resolution would force retirement managers to ignore these relevant risk factors, disregarding the principles of free markets and jeopardizing the life savings of working families and retirees. In fact, this resolution would prevent retirement plan fiduciaries from taking into account factors, such as the physical risks of climate change and poor corporate governance, that could affect investment returns,” the veto message stated.
Considering climate change is hardly settled science it doesn’t make any sense at all for investment managers to be making financial decisions based on the “physical risks” of it.
The Biden regime is prioritizing the progressive global elites that want to see an end to civilization as we know it.
Copyright 2023. NRCCNews.org
Biden and the Democrats have no right to control our savings and investments.
This President and his Democratic Cronies are ruining this country.His energy policy will hurt many Americans.How many people can afford Electric Vehicles.Is the government going to buy 40 to 70 thousand electric cars for the average.I doubt it when we have this dementia riddled President who doesn’t even recognize his own wife most of the time or is so frail he falls down on the stairs of Airforce one.Is he going to give up his gas guzzling Limo and his entourage.I doubt it.And I see his Energy Czar John Kerry is flying around in his citizen paid for Private fuel powered Jet.What a bunch of hypocrites.