Republicans Look to Defund Retirement Security Rule, Other DOL Priorities

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.

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.