US President Joe Biden on Monday vetoed a bill passed by Congress for the first time, which would have prohibited pension funds from taking progressive principles into account in their investment decisions.
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The Republican bill would have repealed a Labor Department rule that allows pension fund managers to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their decision-making.
Biden, 80, refused to sign the bill, arguing it would threaten seniors’ savings by “making it illegal to take risk factors into account.”
“Your plan manager should be able to protect your hard-earned savings — whether Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green likes it or not,” Biden said, referring to the far-right Republican.
Republicans, who see so-called ESG factors as political interference, used their slim majority in the House of Representatives to push through the bill.
Although the Democrats hold a small majority in the Senate, the absence of three Democratic senators and the siding of two Democratic senators with the Republican side led to the passage of this bill in the upper house of Congress.
Supporters of the bill emphasize that ESG factors are motivated by left-wing social views and should not become part of financial transactions.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat who has interests in West Virginia’s fossil fuel industry, called Biden’s veto “maddening.”
“While this provision has been clearly and bipartisanly rejected in Congress, President Biden is choosing to put his administration’s progressive agenda ahead of the well-being of the American people,” Manchin said.
“It’s clear that President Biden wants Wall Street to use your hard-earned money, not to increase your savings, but to fund a far-left political agenda,” said House Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“This will hurt seniors and working people, especially after President Biden’s reckless spending led to record inflation and skyrocketing interest rates.”
