Budget or Spending Bills Could Include DOL Rule Killer

The federal budget bill being negotiated on Capitol Hill this week could become the battleship that eventually sinks the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule.

Investment News reported Dec. 6 that, according to Rep. Phil Roe (R-Ill.), it is possible that a measure to deny funding for the enforcement of the rule could be included in the omnibus federal government funding bill. That bill must be passed and signed into law by Dec. 11 if a government shutdown is to be averted (although a stopgap funding measure could extend that deadline for a short time while negotiations continue). It also is possible that a provision rendering the rule toothless could be part of a DOL appropriations bill, Investment News says.

This is not the first suggestion that such a legislative step could be taken. In November, Reps. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), Richard Neal (D-Mass.), Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), Earl “Buddy” Carter (R-Ga.), and John Larson (D-Conn.) outlined principles guiding their effort to ameliorate the possible impact of the rule on low and middle-income families. The group still has not introduced formal legislation, however.