The US Congress limits consideration of environmental and social issues in pension fund investments

The US Congress on Wednesday passed 1^any He exercised a law limiting responsible investments in pension funds, which would lead President Joe Biden to use his veto power for the first time.

Republicans strongly oppose the idea of ​​factoring environmental, social or governance standards into financial decisions. They think this is an ideological position.

In Congress, they took action, introduced in January by the Department of Labor, which facilitates this type of investment in US pension funds.

Republican Andy Barr, author of the law repealing the measure, estimated that “Politicizing Americans’ Pension Funds, Endangering Their Pensions”.

And this law was passed on Tuesday in the House of Representatives, and on Wednesday it was approved in the Senate by a vote of fifty votes against forty-six. Several Democratic senators voted with the Republicans. Among them is West Virginia mining senator Joe Manchin, already known for blowing up many of Joe Biden’s climate and social ambitions.

The first veto over the Biden presidency

The President of the United States is determined to block any text “unacceptable”According to his spokesperson Karen Jean-Pierre. “He’ll veto this bill if he gets his office.”, she had warned Wednesday, before the Senate vote. This will be the first veto of the Biden presidency.

This text has also been widely criticized by environmental organizations. “Preventing people from considering the financial risks associated with climate change, the effects of which they are already feeling, will only hurt their savings.”One of them, the Sierra Club, denounced it in a press release.

This text is the latest example of the deeply bitter cultural debates, which divide the United States over issues of gender, sexual orientation, or climate.

In August 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a rising star of the far-right and movement killer, already ordered bankers managing his state’s pension funds not to take these criteria into account. urged to “Prioritizing the financial security of the population, rather than fanciful ideas of a utopian future”.