Two Senate Democrats, Joe Manchin (WV) and Jon Tester (MT) look pretty ridiculous Thursday, having fallen for a whole truckload of GOP bullshit about a “woke” Department of Labor rule and voting with Republicans to overturn it. That will probably result in President Joe Biden’s first presidential veto. Neither the House, which passed a repeal resolution Tuesday, nor the Senate has enough votes to override his veto, so it was a totally garbage vote by the two, one that reinforces the very worst GOP lies and politics.
At issue is a Department of Labor rule that allows managers of retirement funds and pension plans to take environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into consideration when choosing retirement investments. That’s it—it doesn’t mandate that they prioritize those concerns in investing plan money, just that they are allowed to do so. That was made necessary by a rule under the former guy that barred plan fiduciaries from considering climate change and other ESG factors.
“The rule simply makes sure that retirement plan fiduciaries must engage in a risk and return analysis of their investment decisions and recognizes that these factors can be relevant to that analysis,” the White House said in announcing the likely veto. Continuing the previous administration’s rule, the White House said, would mean “the federal government would be interfering with the market in a manner that stands in the way of retirement plan fiduciaries’ ability to protect these hard-earned retirement savings and pensions.”
You’d expect the less-than-sharp Manchin to fall for the GOP narrative, which he did, calling the rule “another example of how our administration prioritizes a liberal policy agenda over protecting and growing the retirement accounts of 150 million Americans.” But Tester really should know better. He’s a Montanan, after all, and well acquainted with bullshit.
Particularly since this promulgation of this specific bullshit is being funded by none other than Leonard Leo, the Federalst Society leader who has succeeded in taking over the federal judiciary, and particularly the U.S. Supreme Court, to advance his fundamentalist Catholic nationalist ideology with billions in dark money.
And, of course, there’s a legal challenge to the rule from Republican states, and, of course, they brought that suit in Amarillo, Texas, so that they could get U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk—hand selected by Leo and the Federalist Society. He’s the one who’s about to ban the use of medication abortion nationwide.
Kacsmaryk’s also the poster boy for the rigged judiciary system created by Leo, Mitch McConnell, and Trump.
Biden will be meeting with Senate Democrats on Thursday. Maybe he can have a private word with Tester about appropriate ways of showing his independence from Biden in his re-election campaign.
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