Tester to join Manchin, Republicans in blocking DOL green investment rule

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mt.) will join Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) in voting for a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to block a Labor Department rule allowing the consideration of environmental factors in money managers’ decisions.

In a statement Wednesday, Tester said he will vote for the resolution, which concerns use of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in investment in some retirement accounts. While Manchin has backed the resolution from the beginning, Tester had been noncommittal before Wednesday.

“At a time when working families are dealing with higher costs, from health care to housing, we need to be focused on ensuring Montanans’ retirement savings are on the strongest footing possible,” Tester said. “I’m opposing this Biden administration rule because I believe it undermines retirement accounts for working Montanans and is wrong for my state.”

Manchin has long been vocally against the rule, co-sponsoring the CRA resolution in February.

“At a time when our country is already facing economic uncertainty, record inflation and increasing energy costs, it is irresponsible of the Biden Administration to jeopardize retirement savings for more than 150 million Americans for purely political purposes,” he said at the time.

Both Tester and Manchin face steep reelection challenges in 2024, as red-state Democrats whose states have only grown redder since their last election. While Tester has largely been a reliable ally on the Biden administration’s agenda, Manchin has repeatedly been at odds with the White House on environmental issues, sinking the ambitious Build Back Better package before later negotiating the smaller Inflation Reduction Act.

The CRA allows Congress to block rules imposed by the Executive Branch. The House approved the resolution on Tuesday and despite the Senate’s Democratic majority, party defections and absences indicate it will pass the upper chamber as well.

The White House has also said President Biden will veto it, making its value largely messaging as the GOP takes aim at ESG investment.