Two Democratic senators are set to vote for a Republican measure to roll back a Labor Department rule in what is set to force President Joe Biden’s first use of executive veto power.
With support from centrist Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Jon Tester (D-MT), the Senate is poised to vote in favor of canceling the rule, which allows retirement plan managers to weigh environmental and social issues when making investments. The White House has said Biden will veto the legislation, meaning that the rule won’t likely be scrapped. The vote will be held on Wednesday afternoon.
HOUSE VOTES TO CANCEL ESG RULE IN WHAT COULD BE FIRST VETO OF BIDEN’S PRESIDENCY
Manchin has previously said he will vote to repeal the rule and, after much speculation, Tester announced that he would also join Republicans on the issue ahead of the vote. All Republicans are expected to vote for the rollback of the rule, which is part of a broader push by Democrats and some financial institutions to push environmental, social, and governance priorities, also known as ESG. The rule allows, though not requires, fiduciaries to weigh ESG factors when making investment decisions for retirement accounts.
It is still unclear how Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Angus King (I-ME) will vote on the measure, although King has indicated he is leaning against voting for the GOP legislation. The Washington Examiner sent inquiries to both of their offices.
The Senate’s expected rebuke of the Biden administration rule comes a day after the House voted 216-204 to pass the rollback. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) was the sole Democratic defector on Tuesday. Golden is known for his centrism and represents the only congressional district in New England that backed former President Donald Trump during his 2020 reelection bid.
The rule scrapped Trump-era restrictions that “unnecessarily restrained” plan fiduciaries’ ability to consider ESG factors when choosing investments — even when those factors would benefit plan participants financially, according to the Labor Department.
While the resolution to roll back the rule is set to be tossed to the wayside because of Biden’s veto, it puts lawmakers on the record about ESG and is seen as a bellwether for the Democratic appetite for bucking Biden. One Republican told Politico that the vote was a “test balloon” to see how many Democrats are willing to vote against the president and force a veto. The resolution was advanced through the Congressional Review Act, which provides for measures canceling administrative rules to be brought to the floors of the House and Senate through an expedited process.
Anti-ESG sentiment is strong and growing among Republicans, although particularly for those in energy-producing states, who fear that the corporate and governmental push could end up “blacklisting” oil and gas companies. West Virginia and Montana, represented by Manchin and Tester, respectively, both produce a proportionally large amount of coal as part of their states’ energy profiles.
Prior to the rule-rollback vote, Democrats were lobbying the caucus to vote against the legislation and prevent it from being sent to Biden’s desk for a veto.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed that was published Wednesday morning, just hours before the vote, where he branded ESG as “common sense” and argued that the Republican resolution ties the hands of investors.
“Republicans talk about their love of the free market, small government and letting the private sector do its work. But their obsession with eliminating ESG would do the opposite, forcing their own views down the throats of every company and investor,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, conservative groups like Consumers’ Research, which have been a driving force behind the anti-ESG push, are pleased about the House's rebuke and the Senate's expected vote.
“[House] Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy and House Republicans stood firm in support of the American people by rejecting President Biden’s attempt to further politicize their retirement dollars,” said Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research. “This is the most consequential battle for the future of our nation, and we cannot allow the ESG elites to force their agenda on the American people through economic coercion or the administrative state.”
Wednesday's vote will likely mark a bit of a turning point in a broader GOP fight against ESG, given the publicity surrounding Biden’s first veto. Once a somewhat obscure three-letter acronym, ESG has become a major target for Republican state attorneys general and for GOP state treasurers.
Attorneys general from 25 states filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration in January over the Labor Department’s ESG rule. The lawsuit, filed in Texas federal court, sought a preliminary injunction to stop it from going into effect.
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ESG is also set to become a more salient issue on the 2024 campaign trail. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a prospective GOP front-runner, recently proposed legislation that would curb ESG in his state.
“It’s gonna be part of this national conversation, I think. If you’re at the national level, they are talking about this issue,” West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore, a Republican, told the Washington Examiner during an interview at the end of last year. Moore, who is running for a congressional seat in 2024, has taken several actions against ESG over the past year or so.