Tom Emmer: “Since this Congress was sworn in last January, I have received more calls and emails and I have had more meetings with…”

“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.…”