Rep. Comer expands investigation of politically motivated discrimination in U.S. financial system
WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today is expanding the Committee’s investigation of politically motivated discrimination in the U.S. financial system and the Biden Administration’s support of such practices. Chairman Comer is seeking information about insurance companies canceling policies based on political views or lawful business activities, as well as whether major investment and pension fund managers are using clients’ money to advance ESG-related political agendas.
“The Oversight Committee is investigating discriminatory practices in the American financial system and the Biden Administration’s role in supporting them. Whether it is using the boardroom to achieve what the political left could not accomplish at the ballot box, or canceling Americans’ insurance policies and debanking them for their political views, these actions are wrong and deprive Americans of their constitutional rights. We are seeking to hold regulators under the Biden Administration accountable for contributing to this politically motivated discrimination and to determine whether legislation is needed to prevent such actions in the future,” said Chairman Comer.
As part of the Oversight Committee’s investigation, it has engaged with whistleblowers whose insurance policies were canceled due to widely held political positions or for operating lawful businesses deemed unfavorable by progressive activists. In a letter to the CEO of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Chairman Comer seeks information to evaluate the legality of these actions, whether state laws provide adequate protections against such arbitrary cancellations, and whether regulators or state legislatures are enacting rules that constitute anticompetitive or unfair business practices under federal law.
The Committee is also investigating how investment and pension fund managers have used clients’ funds to advance political activism in portfolio companies through proxy votes and other forms of engagement. Activists have increasingly pushed image-driven proposals in proxy votes to promote progressive initiatives disguised as sound business practices.
Chairman Comer is requesting information from Acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent and SEC Chairman Paul Akins regarding why large investment managers and pension fund managers repeatedly abandoned their fiduciary duties to beneficiaries, including those covered under the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), in pursuit of a political agenda. In the wake of the previous administration promulgating regulations which promoted and sustained these breaches of fiduciary duty, Chairman Comer is also seeking to bring accountability to those in the Biden Administration who are responsible.
In letters to four organizations—Strive Asset Management, Alliance Defending Freedom, the National Center for Public Policy Research, and Consumers’ Research—Chairman Comer seeks information to help inform the degree to which legislation may be needed to address debanking and financial political discrimination, as these groups have taken action to oppose political initiatives advanced through corporate discrimination.