Roll Back Esg to Increase Retirement Earnings Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for yielding the time.

I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 5339, the Protecting Americans' Investments from Woke Policies Act. The Committee on Education and the Workforce worked diligently this Congress to hold the Biden administration accountable for their destructive policies that only serve to harm American families, workers, and retirees.

That is why I proudly partnered with many of my committee colleagues to put together this package of bills before us today that stops this administration's assault on the retirement security of millions of Americans.

Saving for retirement has become increasingly difficult as prices continue to skyrocket. Over the last 3\1/2\ years, we have witnessed a sharp rise in the cost of basic necessities, putting a significant strain on household budgets.

The average household in Georgia is paying over $1,000 per month to purchase the same goods and services as in January of 2021. Cumulatively, the average Georgia household has spent over $27,000 more due to inflation in that same timeframe.

As a result of the Biden-Harris administration's out-of-control spending policies, inflation is soaring. Many seniors are living paycheck to paycheck, retirement savings are in jeopardy, and hardworking Americans are struggling to secure their financial future.

One example of how the Biden administration is jeopardizing retirement savings is through a Department of Labor rule that allows financial advisors to ignore their responsibility to prioritize financial returns in favor of investing America's retirement savings into risky, climate-related environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, funds. Now, let's be clear. This mandate came from the Department of Labor. It did not come from the financial investment community.

ESG funds are proven to carry higher risk and charge steeper fees, and financial institutions have become more brazen in professing partisan and ideological preferences while investing Americans' hard- earned retirement savings.

As families continue to struggle to afford basic necessities like gas and groceries due to record inflation, the last thing hardworking taxpayers need is for their retirement savings to be depleted due to politically motivated mismanagement.

That is why I was proud to introduce the Roll back ESG To Increase Retirement Earnings, the RETIRE Act. This bill rolls back this overreaching rule and ensures ERISA retirement plan sponsors prioritize financial returns over ESG factors when making investment decisions on behalf of their clients, as mandated by the Department of Labor.

My RETIRE Act makes clear what ERISA intended. Retirement plan sponsors should invest their clients' hard-earned money in a manner that maximizes financial returns and minimizes risk, period.

We must get back to a point where financial institutions make investment decisions based on standards of return, credit, collateral, raw data, and balance sheet numbers. We can do so by passing today's legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 5339.

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