Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Tuesday criticized President Joe Biden's new rule for 401(k) fund managers as "radical," the Washington Times reports.
McConnell said on the Senate floor that the new rule would allow fiduciaries to prioritize "ideological goals" over obtaining the best financial returns.
"The Biden administration is trying to enact a radical new regulation that would help liberals use their very own retirement savings as financial muscle for political causes they may not even support," the Kentucky Republican said. "Democrats want to let money managers make these unrelated ideological goals a higher priority than getting their clients, ordinary American workers, the best returns for their own retirements."
He later added, "When you put ideology ahead of seeking the highest returns, the returns — of course — suffer. In effect, we're talking about letting financial companies garnish the retirement savings of workers without their permission in order to pursue unrelated liberal political goals."
The White House previously said in a statement that the rule "is not a mandate — it does not require any fiduciary to make investment decisions based solely on ESG [Environmental, Social, and Governance] factors."