Biden vetoes bill to bar using ESG in choosing investments

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden issued the first veto of his presidency Monday, turning back a Republican effort to bar investment managers from incorporating climate and social considerations into their decisions.

The rule that the president vowed to protect is an obscure investing principle known as ESG — shorthand for prioritizing environmental, social and governance factors. It had been a widely accepted norm in financial circles for almost 20 years until Republicans recently started assailing it as “woke capitalism” that injected Democratic and liberal values into financial decisions. More than $18 trillion is held in investment funds that follow the ESG principle.

Biden defended the veto on Twitter, accusing far-right Republicans of doing the same thing they are accusing Democrats of doing: imposing their views on the rest of the country.

“This bill would risk your retirement savings by making it illegal to consider risk factors MAGA House Republicans don’t like,” the president said, referring to the wing of the party that supports former President Donald Trump. “Your plan manager should be able to protect your hardearned savings — whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene likes it or not.”

The Senate passed the resolution this month by a vote of 50-46 after two Democrats, Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, joined every Republican.

The vote, which came the day after the House approved the measure on a mostly party-line vote, cleared the measure to be sent to the White House, where Biden’s advisers were expecting him to veto it.