Exclusive: Whip Tom Emmer Blasts Biden’s Expected Veto After GOP Leads Passage of Anti-ESG Bill

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 10: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., participates in the Ho
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Ashley Oliver
Washington, DC

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) tore into President Joe Biden on Wednesday over the president’s plans to veto a resolution that would scrap the administration’s rule allowing investors to make environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in retirement plans.

Emmer called Biden’s anticipated veto “sickening” after the GOP-led House first passed the Congressional Review Act resolution, H.J. Res. 30, on Tuesday and the Democrat-led Senate passed it Wednesday.

“It’s sickening that Joe Biden would rather protect his woke agenda than the hard-earned savings of more than 150 million Americans,” Emmer told Breitbart News in a statement.

Noting that Republicans narrowly won the House majority last election after four years out of power, Emmer added, “Biden would do well to remember that the American people elected a Republican House Majority to undo the damage his presidency has caused instead of doubling down on this leftist lunacy.”

One Democrat in the House, Rep. Jared Golden (ME), and two Democrats in the Senate, Sens. Joe Manchin (WV) and Jon Tester (MT), joined all Republicans in voting for the resolution. Golden represents a red-leaning rural district in Maine, while Manchin and Tester face difficult reelection battles in their states next year.

The resolution would reverse the Biden administration’s Department of Labor rule called the “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights.”

The White House claimed in a statement Monday that the rule “clarifies” that investors can “consider climate change and other environmental, social, and governance factors in selecting retirement investments and exercising shareholder rights.”

The White House vowed that Biden would veto the effort to terminate the rule, which Republicans have widely condemned as a “woke” imposition on retirees.

The measure was led by Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) in the House and Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) in the Senate.

Barr celebrated its passage in the House on Tuesday, saying in a statement on social media that House Republicans “stood up for retail investors and advanced my bill to ensure employer-sponsored retirement plans are focused on maximizing financial security, not a political agenda.”

Barr added, “Looking forward to seeing @SenatorBraun lead this across the finish line in the Senate.”

In the early months of Congress, Republicans in the lower chamber have already seen a number of successes despite their razor-thin majority.

In the midst of ultimately forcing Biden to make what could be his first veto in favor of a left-wing cause that not just all Republicans but even some moderate Democrats rejected, Republicans also effectively raised pressure on Biden to put an end date on the coronavirus public emergency, as well as come to the negotiating table for talks about raising the debt ceiling.

Republicans now have their sights set on reversing D.C.’s controversial overhaul of its criminal code, which the House passed last month with the support of 31 Democrats.

The Senate could vote on that bill next week, and, per CNN, Manchin has already signaled he will vote with Republicans on it, which could tee up another possible veto from Biden on the issue of crime depending on if other Democrats join Manchin.

Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com. Follow her on Twitter at @asholiver.

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