Sen. Moran Joins Senate Colleagues to Fight for Middle-Income Americans' Retirement

Press Release

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) issued the following statement today after supporting a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution (H.J. Res. 88) to formally object to the Obama Administration's harmful new regulation that will have devastating effects on retirement planning by hardworking families and small businesses.

"Regulatory activism has become a hallmark of this administration's approach to federal oversight," Sen. Moran said. "Rather than working with Congress to address the need to better protect current and future retirees, the Department of Labor has been pursuing this issue without regard for the everyday people planning for their retirement. Today I joined my colleagues in the Senate and House to fight this act of government intrusion -- we cannot allow DOL to jeopardize the futures of so many Americans."

On April 6, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) finalized a rewrite of its definition of a "fiduciary," allegedly to protect individuals from misleading investment advice. In practice, the new rule will make retirement planning unaffordable for low- to middle-income Americans whose accounts are not valuable enough for advisors to take on the new legal liability created by DOL.

The passage of this resolution of disapproval signals Congress' intent to stop DOL from implementing this harmful rule, which will deny retirement advice to low- and middle-income savers, which is what happened when a similar change was adopted in the United Kingdom.

Under the CRA, the House and Senate vote on a joint resolution of disapproval to stop, with the full force of law, a federal agency from implementing a rule or regulation or issuing a substantially similar regulation without congressional authorization. The resolution of disapproval must also be signed by the president; if not signed, Congress can overturn a veto with a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.

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