Andy Barr: “I don't know if my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't understand the existing law and what this resolution…”

“I don't know if my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't understand the existing law and what this resolution does and what the Department of Labor's new rule is, or whether they are just trying to confuse the listeners and watchers here today because the truth is that this is not material for the vast majority of Americans. The studies show that most Americans don't even know what ESG is. To the extent Americans do find it material, nothing in this resolution prohibits an American from allocating their capital the way they want to. What this resolution will do is stop the Department of Labor from coercing Americans into lower performing, higher fee, less diversified, politicized funds. We must stop the politicization of allocation of capital. When my friend from Illinois says: Well, why are Republicans picking losers? Really? In 2022, the S&P 500 energy sector ended the year a whopping 59 percent higher than where it started. Amid a brutal bear market in which the S&P 500 overall lost 20 percent, if you were invested in ESG in 2022, you were a massive loser because you were divested from energy. Stop the politicization of capital. If you want to give Americans freedom to choose what is material for them in investing, vote against the Department of Labor rule, which would conceal what the Department of Labor is doing, which is steering Americans into investments that have political values that they disagree with. Give Americans true transparency.…”