The Biden administration is undermining fiduciary protections created by the Trump administration to protect retirees from money managers who would use their wealth to push the radical progressive agenda rather than to secure the savers’ retirements. Now, 25 state attorneys general are suing to stop the Biden administration. Keith Griffith reports for the Daily Mail:
The Republican attorneys general from 25 US states have filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s plan to allow retirement fund managers to make ‘socially conscious’ investment decisions.
The federal suit filed on Thursday in US District Court for Northern Texas seeks to halt the implementation of the Department of Labor rule, which allows private benefit plans to invest in funds focused on environmental, social, or governance (ESG) issues.
The suit alleges the new rule ‘undermines key protections for retirement savings of 152 million workers… totaling $12 trillion in assets’ in the name of social policies, including addressing climate change.
The rule, set to take effect on January 30, reverses a restriction imposed during the Trump administration that requires retirement plans to consider only financial factors in making investment decisions and exercising shareholder rights.
‘The Biden Administration is promoting its climate change agenda by putting everyday people’s retirement money at risk,’ said Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, who is leading the suit, in a statement to DailyMail.com.
‘Permitting asset managers to direct hard-working Americans’ money to ESG investments puts trillions of dollars of retirement savings at risk in exchange for someone else’s political agenda,’ he added.
‘We are acting with urgency on this case because this illegal rule is set to take effect next week. It must be stopped,’ said Reyes.
The Labor Department and Biden’s Labor Secretary Marty Walsh are named as defendants in the suit. A spokesman for Walsh referred requests for comment to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a message late Thursday night.
Action Line: No one should be using your money to pursue their political goals. If you need help building a portfolio of individual assets that you control, let’s talk.
