Skip to main content

You are here

Advertisement

Senate Dems Have Icy Response to Acosta’s Freeze Comments

Citing an ARA report, three Senate Democrats have pressed Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta regarding comments that he wanted to find a way to freeze the fiduciary rule and make it “stick.”

The letter, signed by Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Corey Booker (D-NJ), recalled questioning during Acosta’s confirmation hearing when he stated that he would follow the “executive orders of the President,” and that if confirmed he would conduct a review in accordance with those instructions, going on to contrast those sentiments with those reported from the conversation reported with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) in which he said the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule is his number one priority, and that he was actively seeking a way to freeze the rule that will “stick.”

“The definitiveness of your statements, after merely three weeks as Secretary, gives us reason for serious concern,” the senators wrote. “Instead of meeting with all stakeholders and considering multiple points of view, you appear to have prejudged the outcome of the review your agency was tasked with conducting. In fact, it seems as though you have already arrived at your decision.”

“Stating your preference to freeze the conflict of interest rule prior to the conclusion of the analysis required in the Memorandum seems to be in conflict with your prior statements,” they wrote. “You no doubt are aware of the steep legal standards the Department must overcome to justify further delaying, substantially revising, or rescinding this rule.”

They’re not the only pen-pals of Secretary Acosta these days; the conversation with Sen. Scott in which the freeze comments were made came as a followup to an April 28 letter from Scott and eight other GOP Senators urging the DOL, “pursuant to the President’s memorandum and in light of the numerous concerns with the final fiduciary rule,” to carry out “the President’s directives without delay and finalize a new fiduciary rule review before any part of the rule becomes applicable.”

And as of now, the (delayed) applicability date of the fiduciary rule remains June 9.