Retail Investor Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. EMMER of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, since this Congress was sworn in
last January, I have received more calls and emails and I have had more
meetings with constituents and consumers of financial services about
the Department of Labor's proposed fiduciary rule than perhaps any
other issue that has faced us in Congress.

Why? Because the Department of Labor's proposed fiduciary rule, if it
is ever fully implemented, will actually harm the very people that it
is purported to protect, middle- and low-income investors.

Mr. Speaker, I came to Washington to fight against out-of-control,
top-down government bureaucracies, and this DOL rule is their latest
mad creation. We should look for ways to increase access to affordable,
transparent, and high-growth financial products that meet the needs of
all Americans, not limit them.

According to a recent study by Oliver Wyman, an international
management consulting firm, the proposed rule will increase costs for
investors by an average of 73 percent. This increase will harm the
ability of millions of Americans to get professional financial advice.

This is particularly disturbing, considering research shows that
assistance from a financial professional consistently leads to better
retirement planning. For example, according to the same report: Advised
individuals aged 35 to 54 years making less than $100,000 per year had
51 percent more assets than similar nonadvised investors.

Nearly 60,000 of my constituents make a living supporting the
financial services industry. How does this rule help them or the people
they assist? I recently heard from a financial adviser in my district,
Ken, from Blaine, Minnesota, who told me that this DOL rule is a
solution in search of a problem and that it will adversely affect his
clients.

Hardworking Minnesotans are gravely concerned that this rule will
cause many financial advisers to severely limit the types of products
that customers want, need, and desire or, even worse, it will force
advisers out of the business.

I thank our friend, Mrs. Wagner, for her leadership on this issue.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to protect middle-
and low-income investors by supporting the Retail Investor Protection
Act.

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