Brian Gornick, Staff Writer
President Joe Biden in the Oval Office. Photo//Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images file
On Monday, President Joe Biden issued his first presidential veto since taking office, rejecting a primarily GOP-led measure that would affect retirement plans for Americans.
The proposed measure would change environmental investment rules, blocking managers of retirement funds from considering the impact of climate change and other environmental, social, and corporate governance factors when picking investments.
The veto came after the Senate voted 50-46 on March 1 to pass the resolution that would change the investment rules, with Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana voting with the Republicans.
The House passed the resolution on February 28 with a 216-204 vote. Democrat Jared Golden of Maine went against his party and sided with Republicans.
Republicans decried the veto, claiming that the environmental investment rules were part of a “woke” agenda by the Democrats to push liberal policies on Americans. GOP leaders such as Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming released in press statements that Biden wished to ‘strangle’ America's retirement money through his focus on the environment in retirement plans.
Biden pushed back, and said in a twitter post that the legislation passed by Congress would “Put at risk the retirement savings of individuals across the country.”