Conservative leaders nationwide have been increasingly hostile toward the rise of so-called “woke” policies that have infiltrated the realms of academia, corporate America, and politics in recent years.
Now, a bipartisan group of lawmakers are pushing back against the Biden administration’s effort to enshrine such far-left social policies within the nation’s financial institutions.
Appearing on Fox News this week, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) explained his motivation for joining forces with GOP colleagues to introduce a bill aimed at reversing the current trend.
He argued that the current push by the White House would allow investment firms to base their strategies on “Environmental, Social, and Governance” policies that critics say would effectively impose speech codes on Americans under the threat of losing access to financial services.
NEW: GOP, along w/Manchin, will force votes through privileged resolutions to dismantle new #ESG 401k rules implemented by Biden admin
They're still 1 Senate D short, but it's a rebuke as GOP states wage a multi-billion-dollar anti-ESG war
w/@JeffMordockhttps://t.co/XN57TQOZyo
— Ramsey Touchberry (@ramsberry1) January 31, 2023
Not only would the plan jeopardize the U.S. economy, Manchin said, but it could make the nation more vulnerable to international threats by prematurely curtailing access to energy sources deemed environmentally unfriendly.
“If you’re trying to put pressure and get rid of fossil before we have anything to replace it, you are going to damage our economy and make our country much weaker,” he asserted. “That’s why I’ve been fighting for energy security.”
Earlier this week, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) issued a statement outlining her opposition to the Biden administration’s pro-ESG agenda.
“Americans who work today and save for tomorrow need to optimize their returns to afford life in retirement,” she said. “Political agendas like Joe Biden’s ‘woke’ ESG requirements pressure financial experts to shift potential gains away from American retirees and into Joe Biden and the Department of Labor’s political projects. These efforts harm Americans saving for retirement by pressuring investing specialists to use Americans’ life savings to fund the radical agenda in the White House.”
This is not the first environmental issue on which Manchin has sided with Republicans against the Biden administration. In the wake of reports that the White House was considering a move that would prohibit the sale of gas stoves, the West Virginia Democrat reached across the aisle to co-sponsor a bill with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
“I can tell you one thing: They’re not taking my gas stove out,” Manchin declared.
