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Regulation and Compliance > Legislation

Lawmakers Move to Torpedo New DOL Fiduciary Rule

By Melanie Waddell

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Four senators — three Republicans and one Democrat — introduced Wednesday a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to overturn the Labor Department’s new fiduciary rule.

The senators — Ted Budd, R-N.C.; Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Roger Marshall, R-Kansas — said in a joint statement Wednesday that the new rule, which Labor released on April 23, “would endanger financial choice and access.”

Cassidy is the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to overturn rules issued by a presidential administration through a joint resolution of disapproval. The resolution must pass the House and Senate and be signed by the president, or if Congress overrides a presidential veto, the rule at issue is overturned.

DOL’s new fiduciary rule “redefines who qualifies as an ‘investment advice fiduciary’” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, “and threatens to gut a wide range of financial tools that many of the largest financial planning and wealth management firms currently offer consumers, including basic financial education and investment planning courses, life insurance, annuity plans, and other financial instruments,” the senators said.

The House companion resolution is led by Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., and supported by House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.

Labor’s fiduciary rule “is government control and excessive regulatory burden at its worst,” Foxx said in the statement. “This rule reaches well beyond the Department’s jurisdiction and attempts to regulate individuals’ choices for their own retirement savings.”

Wayne Chopus, president and CEO of The Insured Retirement Institute, said Wednesday in a statement that IRI “supports the passage of a CRA resolution.”

Labor’s “final rule creates significant hardships for today’s workers and retirees, making it much more expensive and complicated — and for many consumers, impossible — to access reliable professional guidance,” Chopus said. “Congress must disapprove the final rule to prevent the deepening of the retirement savings gap and the establishment of unnecessary barriers for workers to overcome as they seek a secure and dignified retirement.”

Melanie Waddell

@Think_MelanieW

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