JOE’S FIRST VETO
Nixes GOP bill to quash ‘woke’ pension rule
President Biden on Monday issued his first veto — blocking a Republican-led effort to restrict pension funds from making investment decisions based on factors such as climate change.
“I just signed this veto because the legislation passed by the Congress would put at risk the retirement savings of individuals across the country,” Biden said in a video posted on Twitter.
The bill cleared Congress on March 1 after two Senate Democrats, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, voted in favor, allowing it to pass 50-46 in the Democratic-held chamber.
The resolution would overturn a Labor Department rule making it easier for funds to consider environmental, social and corporate governance, or ESG, issues.
The Republican-held House previously approved the bill 216-204 with a single Democrat — Rep. Jared Golden of Maine — voting in favor.
The narrow margins make a veto override very unlikely. For a bill to take effect over a president’s veto, it must have the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate.
Previously, pension funds could only make decisions on “pecuniary” factors — that is, what investments will make the most money for retirees.
The resolution’s supporters said the Labor Department rule would allow for the wasteful misdirection of $12 trillion in retirement funds invested on behalf of 150 million Americans.
“It is clear that President Biden wants Wall Street to use your hardearned money not to grow your savings, but to fund a far-left political agenda. That will hurt seniors and workers,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Monday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), however, accused Republicans of interfering with private corporate policy and “forcing their own views down the throats of every company and every investor.”
Manchin, whose vote is often pivotal due to his party’s narrow margin of Senate control, said it actually was the Biden administration pushing a “radical policy agenda.”
“Despite a clear and bipartisan rejection of the rule from Congress, President Biden is choosing to put his administration’s progressive agenda above the well-being of the American people,” Manchin said.