It’s official: the first veto of the Biden presidency puts politics over pensions. He rejected a bipartisan bill that would restore the Trump rule that prohibited pension managers and other fiduciaries from making investments based on “non-pecuniary factors,” – meaning climate change, social justice, LGBTQ, and other left-wing policies known as ESG.

Here’s the most interesting part – Biden didn’t defend ESG or make the silly Schumer argument that lower financial returns are good for investors if they can solve global warming. He just lied, claiming the bill’s supporters, including Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Jon Tester “would risk your retirement savings by making it illegal to consider risk factors MAGA House Republicans don’t like.” That’s exactly wrong – the bill requires fiduciaries to invest based on expected FINANCIAL returns. Period.

The reality is that Biden’s veto is backstopping his pro-ESG policy that actually does risk retirement savings for his political objectives. Here is a chart showing ESG funds SEVERELY underperform non-ESG investments.

Follow our campaign #HandsOffOurPensions.