Major advertising campaign expected ahead of Biden’s first veto
Ryan King
A consumer advocacy group is debuting a campaign to rail against environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, investing ahead of President Joe Biden’s likely veto of legislation on the matter.
Consumers’ Research, which staunchly opposes ESG, is financing digital ads and mobile billboards that will blanket Washington, D.C., to stir up opposition to the controversial investment strategy. The White House has confirmed that Biden will veto a Republican-backed bill to roll back a Labor Department rule permitting retirement plans to consider ESG in investment decisions.
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WHITE HOUSE CONFIRMS BIDEN WILL VETO GOP-BACKED ANTI-ESG BILL
“The first piece of bipartisan legislation sent to Joe Biden’s desk during this Congress is legislation intended to keep progressive politics out of investment management. But, Biden is likely to veto this legislation, in an attempt to protect the ESG agenda,” Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, tweeted.
The campaign features alternative definitions for what the abbreviation ESG stands for, such as “Erasing Savings & Growth,” “Elitists, Socialists & Grifters,” and “Enabling Slave labor and Genocide.”
https://twitter.com/WillHild/status/1635613931791085568?s=20
ESG investing has emerged as a flashpoint in the culture wars and prompted backlash from Republicans and conservatives who have decried the investment strategy as “woke.” Legislation to nullify the Biden administration’s rule has already cleared both the House and the Senate.
Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Jon Tester (D-MT) backed the legislation to scrap the ESG rule. The White House insists the move handicaps investors and retirees.
“It forces MAGA Republicans’ ideology down the throats of the private sector and handcuffing investors as well. The bill would bar fiduciaries from considering significant risks like extreme climate threats and poor corporate governance when they make investment decisions,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier this month.
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The Biden administration policy allowing money managers to consider climate change and other ESG issues when making investment decisions supplanted a Trump administration rule that disadvised such considerations.
Biden is expected to issue the veto, which will be the first of his administration, within the coming days.