Compliance June 26, 2024

Republicans Look to Defund Retirement Security Rule, Other DOL Priorities

House GOP spending proposal cuts all funding for the ESG rule and the Women’s Bureau

Reported by

Republican members of the House Committee on Appropriations proposed a spending bill for fiscal year 2025 that would cut the Department of Labor’s budget and completely defund key administration priorities. The proposal passed the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee Thursday morning.

The budget bill would completely defund the application by the DOL of several new policies and rules. The budget would include no money to apply or enforce the DOL’s new independent contractor definition, which makes it easier for workers to be classified as employees. It would also not appropriate funding for a rule clarifying that retirement plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act may use prudent environmental, social and governance considerations in making plan investment decisions. The budget also would not earmark any money for the Retirement Security Rule, which expands fiduciary duties for firms providing certain advice or recommendations to retirement plans on topics including account rollovers, annuities, and plan investment menu design.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

House Republicans previously tried to defund the independent contractor and ESG rules during last year’s budget negotiations and were unsuccessful.

The bill recommends DOL receive a discretionary spending total for the fiscal year that begins October 1 of $10.5 billion, which would be a cut of $3 billion from 2024 levels and $4.6 billion less than the White House’s budget request in March. The Employee Benefit Security Administration would receive $181.1 million under the House GOP proposal. EBSA in April requested a budget of $205.7 million for fiscal 2025.

Other divisions of the DOL are targeted in the House GOP proposal. It would reduce funding for the Wage and Hour Division and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration by $75 million and would defund a new rule lowering the permissible amount of silica dust to which miners can be exposed before corrective action is required. The House GOP bill would also completely defund the DOL Women’s Bureau.

The bill will be considered during a committee mark-up hearing tomorrow.

Data and Research June 26, 2024

Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland Students Win Retirement Essay Competition

The iOme Challenge, sponsored by the TIAA Institute and the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, encourages college students to have a voice in shaping retirement policy.  

Reported by

Groups of students from John Hopkins Carey Business School and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County won the iOme Challenge last week. One team offered policy proposals on how to equitably reform Social Security and the other suggested moving the U.S. to universal individual retirement accounts from the existing employer-based retirement savings system. 

The challenge, sponsored by the TIAA Institute and the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, is designed to raise awareness about financial security in retirement and give young people a voice in shaping retirement policy, according to TIAA. 

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANSPONSOR NEWSDash daily newsletter.

Student teams across the country participate in the annual challenge, and the winning teams receive a $5,000 prize and are invited to present their ideas at a symposium with policymakers on Capitol Hill. 

The challenge involves answering the annual iOme Challenge question in essay form, in no longer than 5,000 words. Students from all academic disciplines were encouraged to participate.  

Following the symposium in Washington, D.C., students can network with policy professionals and staff from Capitol Hill and executive agencies to learn more about their work.  

The winning team’s faculty adviser also wins a $1,500 prize and is also invited to D.C. 

This year’s challenge question asked student teams to assume that Congress appointed them as a member of the “2024 Independent Commission on Retirement Security” and to develop a proposal to improve upon one or all three pillars of the nation’s retirement system: Social Security, employer-sponsored plans and personal savings. The proposal needed to include specific policies that would target the needs and challenges of specific population segments that the commission should prioritize.   

The deadline for submissions was May 12, and the essay symposium was held on June 20.  

According to TIAA, some professors have found it works well to incorporate the iOme Challenge into their course work for the second semester or offer it as an extra credit project. In past years, campus clubs have also formed teams to participate. Small teams and teams of one are accepted, as well. 

From John’s Hopkins, the winners were Xenia Afoakwah, Emmanuel Animashaun, Di Han, Deanna Portero, Roy Randen and Cira Sun. Their winning essay can be found here. From the University of Maryland, the winners were Peter Wilschke, Arvind Kuruvilla and Matthew Dyson. Their winning essay can be found here. 

You can learn more about the iOme Challenge here. 

«