Pelosi Dear Colleague Urging a ‘No’ Vote on GOP’s Resolution to Disapprove of DoL’s Conflict of Interest Retirement Investment Rule
April 27, 2016
Dear Democratic Colleague,
This week, the House of Representatives will vote on H.J. Res. 88, a resolution to disapprove the Department of Labor’s Conflict of Interest Retirement Investment Rule, also known as the “fiduciary” rule. I urge you to vote NO on this misguided legislation, which undermines President Obama and Secretary Perez’s efforts to protect the retirement security of millions of Americans.
H.J. Res. 88 represents an unwarranted intervention in the independent regulatory process that would deny millions of hard-working Americans the updated consumer protections that best protect their retirement security.
Without the new rule, a 40-year old federal rule allows brokers and investment advisers to exploit loopholes to put their own profits ahead of their clients’ best financial interests – a conflict of interest that can cost a retiree almost one-fifth of their savings by age 65. According to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, conflicted advice and hidden fees cost hard-working American families an estimated total of $17 billion in retirement savings losses every year.
Originally proposed in 2010, but subsequently withdrawn and re-proposed in April 2015 and made final on April 6, 2016, DoL’s updated conflict of interest rule has been greatly improved by a comprehensive, inclusive, meaningful and extensive public input process.
Following a 75-day comment period, and after a request from several Democratic House Members for more time, the Department agreed to extend the comment period for 15 days, followed by an additional 30-day comment period. There have been thousands of public comments, days of public hearings, hundreds of stakeholder meetings, and more than 100 Congressional meetings with Secretary Perez and his team to create this final rule.
Secretary Perez is to be commended for his leadership, under which the comprehensive public input process resulted in an updated rule that promotes a transparent and competitive retirement savings marketplace and provides working Americans with the strong consumer protections they deserve.
The AARP and a broad coalition of retirement, consumer, civil rights, and labor groups, strongly support DoL’s efforts to strengthen protections for retirement savers. However, a Koch brothers-backed coalition of right-wing groups, including Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, have urged Republican congressional leaders to freeze DoL appropriations for implementing the conflict-of-interest rule until it is withdrawn.
Ensuring that all Americans can save for retirement in a fair and transparent marketplace is vital to the strength of our economy and essential to the future of hard-working families. I urge you to oppose the misguided Republican effort to delay the strongest consumer protections for retirement savers by voting NO on H.J. Res. 88.
Thank you for your leadership,
