House Fails to Override Biden’s First Presidential Veto Amid Dispute Over ESG Investment Rule

The first veto of President Joe Biden’s administration, which was related to a rule on environmental, social, and governance( ESG ) investment, was overridden by the House of Representatives on Thursday.

The House vote of 219 – 200 in favor of overriding Biden’s veto fell short of the necessary two-thirds majority. Every Republican in attendance cast a ballot in favor of overriding the filibuster. The only Democrat who joined them in the vote was Rep. Jared Golden( D – Maine ).

A resolution introduced by Rep. Andy Barr ( R – Ky.) to rescind a Department of Labor ( DOL ) rule that went into effect on January 30 was rejected by Biden’s veto, which was issued on March 20. Sen. Mike Braun( R-Ind. ) led the resolution’s companion bill. ) was approved by a simple majority vote in the House and Senate.

Annuity fund managers may invest people’s retirement funds in accordance with numerous ESG criteria under the DOL rule. It replaces a prior act that mandated fund managers hardly make investments based on financial considerations and was issued by the Trump presidency in 2020.

The 152 million Americans’ pensions, which together amount to about$ 12 trillion, are affected by the Biden administration rule.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy( R-California ) said in a statement on Twitter on Thursday in response to the unsuccessful veto override,” House Democrats just overwhelmingly doubled down in defense of Biden’s radical ESG regulation.”

Your retirement savings shouldn’t be used to support social advocacy, he continued, adding that House Republicans have various interests. ” We’ll keep fighting for American workers against street Wall Street.”

Barr, who introduced the anti-ESG measure, posted on Twitter on Thursday from Rep. John Rose( R-Tennessee) saying that” HouseGOP is sending a message to President Biden: we stand with hard-working, middle-class Americans over woke, special interest groups.”

Retirement accounts for Americans may be shielded from left-wing irrationality. For the fiscal stability of Tennesseans, RepAndyBarr is in charge of this initiative, and I wholeheartedly support it.

ESG is a volunteer initiative that businesses can engage in. The non-financial requirements are evaluated by outside, third-party services. Financial institutions adhering to the ESG plan may grant more wealth and credit, as well as preferential outsourcing, to companies deemed to better meet ESE requirements.

According to ESG followers, these standards can help businesses reveal changing trends and benefit their staff and society at large in non-financial way.

However, those who oppose ESG claim that it resembles a social credit score and causes investors to shift their attention away from revenue, trader returns, and the quality of goods and services and toward random and subjective objectives that seek to advance political and social justice causes, sometimes at the expense of fiscal returns.

The DOL guideline, according to many Democratic and some Democrat lawmakers, had politicize investing and permit pension account managers to take a financial risk by pursuing communist causes like gender diversity and climate change.

Rep. Golden and Sens. were the Democrats who voted with Republicans to overturn the DOL policy due to Biden’s reject. ( D – Mont. ) Jon Tester as well as Joe Manchin( D-W. Va. ).

The guideline, according to other Democrats, would only permit fund managers to recognize the importance of ESG criteria when evaluating their investments.

By making it illegal to take into account risk factors that MAGA House Republicans dislike, this bill would put your retirement savings at danger, Biden originally stated on Twitter. In a White House speech, Biden stated that the law” protects the hard-earned retirement and life savings of tens of millions of people and taxpayers across the country.”

Manchin had stated following Biden’s veto,” This ESG act will undermine our energy, and, and financial security while jeopardizing the hard-earned retirement savings of 150 million West Virginians and Americans.” President Biden is choosing to place his administration’s liberal plan above the well-being of the American people, despite a sharp and republican rejection of Congress’ rule.

Barr originally stated on the House ground that” ESG funds are less varied and carry higher fees.” Twenty-one percent of people, according to him, are actually unaware of what ESG stands for.

This report was written by Savannah Pointer.