Political Quotes

“Madam President, there is a group of elected officials in our country today who are engaged in an anti-capitalist crusade. But they are not socialists; they are mostly congressional Republicans. This CRA is gross government overreach on U.S. capital markets. It is designed to prevent pension plans from pursuing environmental, social, and governance--or ESG--investing. But make no mistake, it is only the latest step in a campaign to prevent American financial institutions from making money from the clean energy revolution, and it should offend anyone who supports free markets. The reason this is happening is that the fossil fuel industry faces a risk wall, where the risks associated with climate change are clear enough that retirement plan sponsors may want to consider them when investing assets. The Trump administration banned them from doing so, implementing a rule that pension fund managers couldn't consider ESG investing. The Biden administration's rule merely reverses this ban, going back to a neutral stance--going back to be a neutral stance. It is not telling them to do environmental, social, and governance goals; it is just saying: Do whatever you want. It is none of our business. The Federal Government has no business in determining how pension funds deploy their resources. But rather than own up to the risks or reduce their emissions, the fossil fuel industry is trying to remove climate-related elements from risk consideration, and the Republican Party is helping.…”