President Biden on Monday vetoed his first bill — blocking a Republican-led effort to restrict pension funds from making investment decisions based on factors such as climate change.
“I just signed this veto because the legislation passed by the Congress would put at risk the retirement savings of individuals across the country,” Biden said in a tweeted video.
The bill passed Congress on March 1 after two Senate Democrats, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, voted in favor, allowing it to prevail 50-46 in the Democrat-held chamber.
The resolution would reverse a Labor Department rule making it easier for funds to consider environmental, social, and corporate governance, or ESG, issues.
The Republican-held House previously approved the bill 216-204 with a single Democrat — Rep. Jared Golden of Maine — voting in favor.
The narrow margins make a veto override very unlikely. For a bill to take effect over a president’s veto, it must have the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate.
The legislation is part of a broader GOP effort to push back on policies deemed to be overly politically correct or “woke,” a term that once was used as a self-identifier before becoming a pejorative.
The resolution’s supporters said the Labor Department rule would allow for the wasteful misdirection of $12 trillion in retirement funds invested on behalf of 150 million Americans.
“It is clear that President Biden wants Wall Street to use your hard-earned money not to grow your savings, but to fund a far-left political agenda. That will hurt seniors and workers,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Monday.
Senate Majority Leader leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), however, accused Republicans of interfering with private corporate policy and “forcing their own views down the throats of every company and every investor.”
Manchin, whose vote is often pivotal due to the narrow division of Senate control, said it actually was the Biden administration pushing a “radical policy agenda.”
“Despite a clear and bipartisan rejection of the rule from Congress, President Biden is choosing to put his administration’s progressive agenda above the well-being of the American people,” Manchin said.
Reporting from New York Post.
