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House Fiduciary Rule Vote Falls Short to Override Veto

Opposition to the Department of Labor fiduciary rule once again reached the House floor on Wednesday, in an evening vote attempting to override President Obama’s veto of H.J. Res. 88. As expected, Republicans did not secure a two-thirds vote to override a presidential veto, but it did pass 239-180 along party lines.

The 10:30 p.m. vote, which was largely viewed as symbolic, interrupted a well-publicized sit-in by House Democrats who were demanding changes to current gun control legislation.

H.J. Res. 88, a joint resolution introduced by Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN), was seeking to block the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule. Republicans have been pushing back against the controversial rule that redefines the fiduciary standard when giving investment advice.

The resolution passed the House in April in a 234-183 vote along party lines, and a month later passed the Senate in a 56-41 vote mostly along party lines with Democrats Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Jon Tester (D-MT) approving the measure.

Trade groups, business associations and an insurance agency have taken their grievances with the controversial rule to the courts. A total of five lawsuits have been filed against the Department of Labor since the final rule was released in April.

Last Friday, the Department of Labor filed a motion requesting to consolidate three lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The consolidation is supported by all parties, but must be approved by a judge before moving forward.

The DOL said that their request “is appropriate since all three actions challenge the same agency rulemaking and present substantially the same legal issues, and consolidation will promote the just and efficient conduct of the litigation avoiding duplicative proceedings…”

The three lawsuits filed between June 1st and June 8th in the Texas court include the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. Perez, American Council of Life Insurers v. U.S. Department of Labor, and Indexed Annuity Leadership Council v. Perez.

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