A new spending bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives contains a sentence that seeks to do away with the fiduciary regulation – with language that some might find eerily prophetic.
The bill, which would fund government operations for fiscal 2018, makes a brief, but powerful statement about the fiduciary regulation. Specifically, it says:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the final rule issued by the Department of Labor entitled “Definition of the Term “Fiduciary”; Conflict of Interest Rule-Retirement Investment Advice” and published by the Department of Labor in the Federal Register on April 8, 2016 (81 Fed. Reg. 20946 et seq.), shall have no force or effect.
The House was set to vote on the appropriations measure Wednesday afternoon (not to mention some two dozen amendments), and while it’s seen as likely to be approved in the House, the $1.23 trillion bill seems unlikely to clear the Senate.
All of which may mean that the verbiage dismissing the fiduciary regulation may, as has been the case with previous legislative efforts, “have no force or effect.”
