If Alaska’s Rep. Mary Peltola had her way, investment fund managers of America could starve Alaska’s timber, oil, and mining companies of all investments.
Peltola on Tuesday voted against a Congressional Review Act disapproval of a Biden rule that changed the relationship of fund managers to their clients, from being fiscal fiduciaries to being woke investors. The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky.
The Congressional Review Act disapproval passed with all Republicans and one Democrat voting for it, and all Democrats voting against it. Peltola stuck with the majority Democrats.
The matter involves what’s called “ESG” rules, which allow fund managers to make investments based on evolving “Environmental, Social, and Governance” preferences — things that make liberals and Democrats happy.
The rules, prior to the Department of Labor changing them late last year — required fund managers to only consider the financial concerns of their clients — not some fast-moving woke target like critical race theory or critical gender theory.
Companies like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, and Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America have all said they will no longer invest in drilling in the Arctic. In late 2022, HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, said it would stop investing in all new oil and natural gas plays.
With the Biden rule, the boycott on investing in Alaska could spread like a virus to many other funds held by retirement accounts worth billions of dollars in America.
But a vote could not be taken until the rule, which is now in effect, was finally published in the Federal Registry this year.
The measure has a companion resolution in the Senate, where it’s believed that there is the simple majority required to pass the CRA, with the support of Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Both of Alaska’s senators have signed on as co-sponsors to the one tool that Congress has to undo actions of the Administration.
This ESG rule, issued by the Department of Labor, encourages retirement fund managers to insert political bias into their investment decisions, in favor of environmental, social, and corporate governance ideals, rather than profitability. This rule is a slap in the face to the intent of Congress when it passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974, which set safeguards for most voluntarily established retirement and health plans in the private sector, as America moved away from defined benefit pensions and into individual retirement accounts.
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