Manchin Says He Will Support Republican Efforts to Overturn SWACCA-supported Financial Factors Final Rule
Today, Senator Joe Manchin (R-WV) announced that he will join all 49 Republican senators in supporting a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to nullify the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s (EBSA) final rule on Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights. The CRA process allows Congress to nullify “major” rules issued by federal agencies if both chambers pass a resolution by a simple majority and the President signs it. Manchin’s support for the CRA means Republicans will still need one more Democrat to join the effort in order to pass the bill in the Senate.
Since the summer of 2020, SWACCA has been at the forefront of an effort with the Construction Employers of America (CEA) and our union partners to reverse regulations (also known as the Financial Factors rule) issued by the prior Administration that negatively altered the analysis trustees of ERISA plans must use when assessing plan investments. In July 2020, SWACCA and our CEA allies submitted comments to the Trump Administration opposing its Financial Factors rule, in part, because it would dissuade plan investments in funds that make housing, building, and infrastructure investments and require 100% union labor to be used on the projects. Additionally, in November 2021, SWACCA joined our CEA allies in comments supporting the recission of this Trump-era regulation and urged the EBSA to implement a rule permitting fiduciaries to consider union jobs created by an investment and the associated plan contributions they generate when assessing the economic value of such and investment to the plan. The EBSA heeded these entreaties with publication of the Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights final rule in November 2022. Rest assured, SWACCA and our allies are already taking steps to counteract efforts to reverse our significant regulatory victory through the CRA process.
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