Rep. Wagner Wants Bill to Halt DOL Fiduciary Rule Marked Up by Month-End

“DOL is dug in on this, but I’m pretty dug in, too,” Wagner said on the call with reporters. Her goal, she said, is to get the bill “dispatched through the House, and if the president vetoes it we’ll look at other options at that time.”

Wagner noted that she’d like her bill to move “as stand-alone legislation” and not attached to a year-end spending bill. If the bill doesn’t move forward in the Senate or President Barack Obama vetoes it, she added, “we’ll take that hurdle when it comes; I do believe there are ways, through the appropriations process, that this could be ultimately dealt with if necessary.” Both the House and Senate appropriations committees have offered funding bills that state that “none” of the DOL’s funds may be used to “finalize, implement, administer or enforce” its proposed rule to redefine fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Wagner added that “there are major policy and process issues related to this rulemaking, which makes both subcommittees’ presence at this [Thursday] hearing necessary.” In addition, “there has been significant comment and feedback on the rule that will require careful consideration in analyzing the rule’s impact.”

Wagner cited Perez’s statement in an Aug. 7 letter to her that DOL will issue a final rule — not a reproposal — before holding the four-day stint of August hearings on the plan. “Based on that, it’s hard to imagine the DOL producing a workable rule based off of this proposal. The divide is just too wide between the two.”

As a result, Wagner continued, the Thursday hearing will “unravel the real-world impact of this rule based on how it is currently proposed.”

DOL held four days of public hearings on its plan from Aug. 10-14, and is now taking public comments on the hearing transcripts until Sept. 24.

The Thursday hearing will look at DOL’s economic analysis of the rule and “whether it’s credible, which I think it is not,” Wagner said. The hearing will also delve into whether DOL’s rule is “workable,” as well as the enforcement mechanisms that are in place at the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority that opponents say make DOL’s rule unnecessary.