Mother Jones
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A letter that a group of progressive Democrats sent to federal regulators opposing new protections for millions of Americans’ retirement accounts was drafted by a financial industry lobbyist, according to documents obtained by Mother Jones.
The Department of Labor (DoL), which oversees the federal law setting minimum standards for many retirement plans, would like to require retirement investment advisers to act in the best interest of their customers, as opposed to their own best interest.
But 28 out of the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus—a group of African-American members of Congress that advocates for the interests of low-income people and minorities—signed onto a June 14 letter opposing the rule. So did Democratic lawmakers Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico, Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, Ed Pastor of Arizona, and Jim Costa of California.
The letter’s metadata indicates it was drafted by Robert Lewis, a lobbyist who works for the Financial Services Institute (FSI), an investment industry trade group:
Together, the liberal lawmakers who signed the letter have received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign money from the securities and investment industry in recent years.
In the letter, the lawmakers caution the DoL against proposing new regulations, warning that a strict new rule on retirement advisers may cause many of them to leave the market, and thus “could severely limit access to low-cost investment advice” for “the minority communities we represent.”
From:
Lobbyist Secretly Wrote House Dems’ Letter Urging Weaker Investor Protections
