House Passes Bill to Stop DOL Fiduciary Rule

On Thursday, the House passed H.J. Res. 88, a resolution seeking to block the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, in a 234-183 vote along party lines. House Republicans are fighting the controversial rule that redefines what is considered a “fiduciary” as it pertains to giving investment advice.

“I am proud the House passed my bill to block the Department of Labor’s controversial Fiduciary Rule,” said Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN) who introduced the resolution. “Since the Department first proposed expanding the definition of fiduciary back in 2010, I have raised concerns about their approach. While we can all agree that financial advisors should serve their clients’ best interests, the Department has created an unnecessarily complicated rule that has almost as many pages as a dictionary.”

Roe also said that “reasoning with the Department has not worked” so he sought to block the rule under the Congressional Review Act which allows Congress to prevent a federal agency from implementing a rule without congressional authorization.

On Thursday, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez reiterated that President Obama would veto the measure, which could only be overturned with a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.

“President Obama has said forcefully that if this resolution were to come to his desk, he will veto. Not might veto it. He will veto it,” said Perez. “So this is frankly a waste of time today, what the Republicans are doing.”

The House has not yet taken up the companion resolution introduced by Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Mike Enzi (R-WY).