WSJ Renewal Edition Talks About Biden for Politicized Pensions

WSJ Renewal Edition says the press corps is claiming to see signs that President Biden is “moving to the middle” as he prepares to run for re-election. You wouldn’t know it from the first veto of his Presidency, which he used Monday to overrule a bipartisan Congressional resolution protecting retirement savings against politicized investment decisions.

Firstly, the resolution employed the Congressional Review Act to overturn a Labor Department rule protecting pension funds that invest based on environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, criteria. Also, the rule essentially protects retirement-fund managers from lawsuits if their investment choices cause lower returns or losses because the funds indulge in climate change or social-justice causes. Under traditional fiduciary standards, funds are obliged to maximize returns. WSJ Renewal Edition said.

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Also, the House passed the resolution 216-204 with one Democrat in support, and it passed the Democratic-run Senate, 50-46, as Democrats Jon Tester (Montana) and Joe Manchin (West Virginia) joined Republicans. Both Democratic Senators are up for re-election in 2024. They now have a talking point about opposing their party’s left even if they knew Mr. Biden would prevent the resolution from succeeding.

Finally, Mr. Biden’s ESG rule is part of an Administration-wide effort to put more private capital under the sway of progressive politics. It is writing rules to steer investment to climate and other Democratic priorities, which often leads to the misallocation of capital. In the wake of the ESG rule, watchdogs will have to pay particular attention to retirement-fund managers to see if their political investments come a cropper and hurt retirees.

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