House Panel Sets Wednesday Markup on Bill to Halt DOL Fiduciary Rule

Wagner said on the call that while her bill could go straight to the full committee for a vote, the plan is to mark up her bill by “the end of the month.”

She 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.”

Ninety-six House democrats urged Labor Secretary Thomas Perez in a Sept. 25 letter to not only improve the controversial best interest contract exemption, known as BIC, but to continue to engage with lawmakers and stakeholders on needed revisions to the rule. The lawmakers also urged DOL to convene a “small working group of industry professionals and consumer advocates to aid with finalization of the rule.”

Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America, told DOL in her comment letter on the hearing transcripts that “while adjustments can and doubtless will be made to clarify and streamline certain of the rule’s operational requirements, the rule’s overall framework is sound.”

She argued that “none of the alternatives suggested by industry come close to matching its comprehensive protections, and nothing that industry has submitted during the comment process should deflect the Department from its goal of moving forward quickly to finalize this rule with its core provisions intact.”