Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This is not the first time Congress and the public have debated a fiduciary rule conceived by the Department of Labor. The Department first proposed a rule in 2010, but was later forced to withdraw it due to significant bipartisan opposition. A wide array of stakeholders, both those saving for retirement and those providing assistance to savers, raised legitimate concerns that the Department would be limiting available advice and raising costs. Unfortunately, the Department chose to ignore the lessons of that debacle and embarked again in 2015 on a misguided effort to create a new fiduciary rule. Mr. Speaker, it may be helpful to explain exactly why the Department is promulgating rules governing retirement advice whatsoever. Under the provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, also known as ERISA, Federal law establishes ground rules for defined contribution pension plans, which may be 401(k)s, IRAs, or other tax-preferred savings vehicles. Anyone who exercises discretionary authority over those plans or provides investment advice for a fee to those plans is considered a fiduciary and triggers certain regulatory restrictions that govern their actions. Since 1975, the Department of Labor has used a five-part test to determine when a provider of investment advice is a fiduciary.…”