Biden slams ‘MAGA Republicans’ for bill he vetoed and Democrats helped pass

President Joe Biden criticized “MAGA” Republicans on Monday for the passage of a bill that some members of his own party supported, during the announcement of his first veto. The bill aimed to cancel a Labor Department rule that allowed retirement plan managers to weigh environmental and social issues when making investments.

Biden said that he could not let the bill take effect as it would risk people’s retirement savings by making it illegal to consider risk factors that “MAGA House Republicans don’t like.”

The Labor Department rule aimed to promote environmental, social, and governance (ESG) priorities by allowing, but not requiring, fiduciaries to weigh ESG factors when making investment decisions for their retirement accounts.

The Senate, which has a Democratic majority, passed the legislation in a 50-46 vote with the backing of Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Jon Tester (D-MT). The House voted 216-204 in favor of the rollback, with Jared Golden (D-ME) being the sole Democrat to vote with the Republicans in the lower chamber.

House Republicans are expected to try and override the veto on Thursday but are anticipated to fail because of their slim majority, a source told Just The News.

Attorneys general in more than two dozen states filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration in January over the Labor Department’s ESG rule, seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the rule from going into effect, prior to Biden’s veto.