Opinion Pieces

This story originally appeared in the Washington Examiner.
By: Rep. Rick Allen and Senator Ted Budd

In President Joe Biden’s America, saving for retirement has become increasingly difficult as prices for basic necessities continue to skyrocket thanks to Bidenomics. People are spending more than $1,000 more a month than they were three years ago, and real average weekly wages are down 4.4% since Biden took office.

As Bidenomics continues to destroy people’s budgets, protecting their retirement savings has become an even more important priority for families. That is why it is so important for sound financial advice to be easily accessible, and not a bureaucratic nightmare.

However, this is a fact Biden’s administration cannot seem to grasp. On April 25, 2024, the Department of Labor finalized an overly restrictive fiduciary rule that will only complicate financial planning with burdensome overregulation. This rule will harm the very people it claims to protect — retirees and savers.

This recycled Obama-era policy departs from previous, well-defined precedent on how a fiduciary provides financial advice and pivots to an ambiguous definition that could gut a wide range of financial tools that many of the largest financial planning and wealth management firms currently offer consumers, including basic financial education and investment planning courses, life insurance, annuity plans, and other financial instruments. Similar changes to the definition of a fiduciary have previously caused unnecessary confusion and uncertainty, leading the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to invalidate a substantially similar rule in 2018.

Additionally, there is empirical proof that the finalized rule could financially punish low- and middle-income individuals. A Deloitte study shows the similar 2016 Obama DOL fiduciary rule limited or eliminated financial advice to 10.2 million accounts. According to the Hispanic Leadership Fund’s research, “reinstatement [of the fiduciary rule] would be even more dire for black and Hispanic Americans, contributing to a roughly 20% increase in the wealth gap when looking at accumulated IRA savings alone.”

Congress will not stand idly by as the DOL imposes unworkable, burdensome regulations at the expense of families who want to save their hard-earned money for the future. That’s why we recently introduced a Congressional Review Act Joint Resolution of Disapproval in the House and Senate to overturn the Biden administration’s finalized fiduciary rule.

The CRA enables Congress to disapprove of a final rule issued by a federal agency within 60 legislative days of its publication and prevents the agency from issuing a “substantially similar” rule in the future unless authorized by Congress. Our CRA resolution was advanced by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce last week, and we hope to see movement in the Senate in short order.

This administration’s executive overreach has had a devastating impact on every aspect of people’s lives. As prices continue to soar due to self-inflicted inflationary pressures, the federal government’s decision to limit access to financial advice is a severe blow. This rule will strip working-class people of their options, hamper their retirement plans, and subject them to significant regulatory burdens and litigation risks.

With the bipartisan, bicameral introduction of our CRA resolution of disapproval, we aim to protect people’s access to financial planning and ensure a secure retirement.

Rick Allen is a U.S. representative for Georgia and serves on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Ted Budd is a U.S. senator for North Carolina and serves on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.