PRESS RELEASE FROM CONGRESSMAN HUIZENGA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 3, 2023
Today, House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Patrick McHenry (R-NC), announced the formation of a Republican Working Group led by Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga (R-MI). The purpose of the working group is to combat the threat to our capital markets posed by those on the far-left pushing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) proposals. Upon being selected to head the new ESG Working Group, Congressman Huizenga released the following statement:
“Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in West Virginia vs EPA that government bureaucracies cannot arbitrarily expand their own regulatory reach,” said Congressman Bill Huizenga. “The SEC’s climate disclosure rule is a prime example of this overreach- that would have a wide-ranging impact on hard working Americans across all walks of life. I look forward to leading our committee’s ESG working group, which will focus on promoting strong, vibrant capital markets, while defending the interests of all retail investors.”
“Progressives are trying to do with American businesses what they already did to our public education system—using our institutions to force their far-left ideology on the American people. Their latest tool in these efforts is environmental, social, and governance proposals. This is why I am creating a Republican ESG working group led by Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee Chair Bill Huizenga,” said Chairman McHenry. “This group will develop a comprehensive approach to ESG that protects the financial interests of everyday investors and ensures our capital markets remain the envy of the world. Financial Services Committee Republicans as a whole will continue our work to expand capital formation, hold Biden’s rogue regulators accountable, and support American job creators.”
ESG Working Group Members
- Bill Huizenga (MI-04)
- Ann Wagner (MO-02)
- Barry Loudermilk (GA-11)
- Bryan Steil (WI-01)
- Andrew Garbarino (NY-02)
- Byron Donalds (FL-19)
- Monica De La Cruz (TX-15)
- Erin Houchin (IN-09)
- Andy Ogles (TN-05)
Background:
The Financial Services Committee’s Republican ESG Working Group is committed to protecting the financial interests of everyday investors and ensuring American capital markets remain the envy of the world.
To combat the threat posed to our free markets by far-left environmental, social, and governance proposals, the working group will examine ways to:
- Rein in the SEC’s regulatory overreach;
- Reinforce the materiality standard as a pillar of our disclosure regime;
- And hold to account market participants who misuse the proxy process or their outsized influence to impose ideological preferences in ways that circumvent democratic lawmaking.
The working group will coordinate Republicans’ response to the ESG movement through Member education and policy development across the Committee’s jurisdiction and throughout the broader House Republican Conference.