House committee advances resolution to overturn SEC climate rule along party lines

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee advanced a resolution to overturn the SEC’s climate disclosure rule, in addition to advancing several other resolutions aimed at rolling back various Biden administration rule-making.

“Let us make no mistake, the commission finalized this rule despite no clear authorization from Congress,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., who introduced the resolution to overturn the SEC’s climate rule, at the markup April 17.

The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to disapprove, by a simple majority vote, a final rule issued by a federal agency if the rule has not been in effect for more than 60 legislative days.

The committee voted 28-22, along party lines, to advance the resolution to the House, as many Democrats spoke out against it.

“I strongly oppose (the resolution) because it would deny investors material information about the companies they're invested in and how these companies are faring even as climate change and severe weather events worsen,” said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who serves as the top Democrat on the committee.

The rule, which the SEC finalized March 6, would require public companies to disclose a host of climate-related information in their registration statements and periodic reports, including material climate-related risks and activities to mitigate or adapt to such risks. The final rule did not include one controversial feature of its original proposal, known as Scope 3, which would have required companies to report the indirect emissions generated from their supply chain, if material, with an exemption for smaller companies.

After its finalization, the rule faced nine lawsuits, which will now be heard on a consolidated basis in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. The SEC then decided to voluntarily halt implementation of the rule pending judicial review, according to an April 4 filing.

“This rule is squarely within the SEC’s mission and authority and is consistent with the demands of investors and market participants,” said Reps. Sean Casten, D-Ill., and Juan Vargas, D-Calif., who co-chair the Congressional Sustainable Investment Caucus, in an April 17 statement after the markup. “We applaud the SEC for developing this final rule-making and encourage our fellow capitalists in the House to vote against this CRA resolution should it make it to the floor.”

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, also introduced a resolution April 17 to overturn the rule, garnering support from 32 Senate Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V.

Separately, the committee advanced a resolution to overturn new guidance from the Financial Stability Oversight Council, easing the council’s ability to designate nonbank financial institutions as systemically important and place them under Federal Reserve supervision. The committee voted to advance that resolution, introduced by Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., in another 28-22 vote along party lines.

The guidance is “a veiled attempt to grant political appointees the ability to go after specific companies, without the need to adequately justify the designations across the economy,” Hill said at the markup, noting that those in the asset management industry have expressed concern about the guidance as well.

Additionally, the committee advanced three resolutions in one vote — with another 28-22 vote along party lines — to rescind federal banking regulators’ principles for climate-related financial risk management for large financial institutions. The Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. jointly finalized those principles as a framework for institutions with $100 billion or more in assets to address the physical and transition risks associated with climate change.

Aside from the resolutions, the committee also advanced seven bills April 17, including one bipartisan measure that would require the Fed, FDIC, OCC, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and National Credit Union Administration to review their technology systems and annually report their findings to Congress for five years. The bill, which passed via voice vote, was introduced by Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., and co-sponsored by Hill, the Arkansas Republican, and Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill.