GOP Lawmakers Urge Labor Secretary to Delay Fiduciary Rule
Republicans in the House and Senate are urging the newly-confirmed Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta to further delay the implementation of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule until a review has been conducted. The rule is currently scheduled to go into effect on June 9, following a 60-day delay in order to fulfill President Donald Trump’s directive to review the rule.
Rep. Tom Graves (GA-14), along with 123 of his House colleagues, sent a letter to Secretary Acosta citing President Trump’s February 3rd memo that directed the Labor Secretary to examine the fiduciary rule and determine whether it may adversely affect the ability of Americans to gain access to retirement information and financial advice, as well as to prepare an updated economic and legal analysis of the rule’s impact.
“This rule will have significant consequences for our constituents, many of whom would prefer to continue receiving advice that was previously available,” reads the letter. “The delay…contravenes the presidential memorandum which directed a new economic analysis of the rule and the impact it is having on the marketplace. Rather than facilitating an orderly review period, the preamble illogically concludes that the record supports applying major aspects of the Rule before the President’s review and updated economic analysis are complete. This is nonsensical.”
U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and eight other Republican senators also sent a letter asking Acosta to finalize a new fiduciary rule review before any part of the current fiduciary rule becomes applicable.
“The President’s memorandum is clear that if the Secretary makes an affirmative finding as to any of the memorandum’s enumerated harmful conditions…then [the Secretary] shall publish for notice and comment a proposed rule rescinding or revising the rule.”
Other signatories of the letter include Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Michael Enzi (R-WY), Richard Burr (R-NC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Todd Young (R-IN), and Pat Roberts (R-KS).
