[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 190 (Wednesday, December 7, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7014-S7015]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            ESG Regulations

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, when it comes to the actions of a party or 
a Presidential administration, legislation sometimes grabs the lion's 
share of the attention. But it is equally important to pay attention to 
what a Presidential administration does with its regulatory power, and 
the Biden administration has been characterized by a lot of deeply 
troubling regulations.
  The so-called Inflation Reduction Act may be Democrats' most 
prominent Green New Deal effort, but the Biden administration's radical 
environmental agenda doesn't stop there. The President has also been 
using regulations to push through Democrats' Green New Deal fantasies, 
and these ill-considered, overreaching regulations could have serious 
consequences.
  Later today, I will be sending a letter to the President about the 
attempts to use financial and securities regulators, like the 
Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve, to push 
through environmental, social, and governance--or what are referred to 
as ESG--regulations that seek to choke off investment to essential 
industries like oil and natural gas and American farms and 
ranches. Notable among these is the Securities and Exchange 
Commission's proposed climate disclosure rule, which would require 
publicly traded companies to disclose information not only about their 
own emissions but also about the greenhouse gas emissions of their 
suppliers and even their customers. It would also require companies to 
determine the effects of climate-related risks on each line item of 
their consolidated financial statements.

  Well, to start off with, this rule is obviously unworkable. Companies 
have zero control over the emissions of their suppliers and customers 
and little to no ability to accurately gauge those emissions. But the 
most serious aspect of this proposed rule is the fact that it 
represents a clear effort to coerce companies to sever ties with 
certain industries--notably, of course, the conventional energy 
industry, but also with other industries like agriculture.
  It is hardly the only regulatory action of its kind proposed by the 
Biden administration. The Department of Labor just finalized a rule 
that would in practice require pension fiduciaries to consider climate 
change and ESG factors when making investment decisions, irrespective 
of their pecuniary relevance.
  The Federal Reserve, which I believe has zero business inserting 
itself into debates over climate policy, recently established a pilot 
program to analyze climate-related financial risks for the Nation's 
largest banks, something that clearly--clearly--exceeds the Fed's 
statutory authority.
  Similarly, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Fed have issued draft principles 
for large banks on ``climate-related financial risk management.''
  And the list goes on.
  Private companies, of course, have the right to consider whatever 
factors

[[Page S7015]]

they want when determining what companies they do business with and 
where they will invest, but the Federal Government should not be making 
those decisions for them.
  The President and his cronies and the far-left environmental movement 
may like the idea of choking off investment to the fossil fuel industry 
and other industries to hasten the arrival of their fantasy Green New 
Deal future, but reducing and limiting investment in conventional 
energy and other essential industries is likely to create a nightmare 
for American families and American businesses.
  I am, and have long been, a strong supporter of alternative energy, 
but the fact of the matter is, we are still a long way from being able 
to rely exclusively on alternative energy. The technology that would 
enable us to rely solely on green energy simply doesn't exist yet, and 
pretending that we can rely exclusively on alternative energy isn't 
going to change the reality, which is that we still need oil and 
natural gas and will continue to need them for the foreseeable future.
  Choking off investment to the conventional energy industry isn't 
going to bring about the Green New Deal future, but it is going to 
reduce essential energy supplies, and that, in turn, is going to 
increase energy prices. It is going to increase energy prices for 
American families, and it is going to increase energy prices for 
American businesses.
  If Democrats succeed in reducing investment in oil and natural gas, 
we could be looking at a very serious reduction in our supply of 
conventional energy and correspondingly serious price hikes.
  There is reason to be concerned that Democrats aren't just interested 
in choking off investment in oil and natural gas but in agriculture, as 
well, because of natural livestock emissions and farming inputs like 
fertilizer. The National Credit Union Administration published a since-
rescinded strategic plan that seemed to recommend that credit unions 
reduce their membership and loan offerings to farming communities. And 
South Dakota banks and credit unions have repeatedly--repeatedly--
expressed their concerns to my office that the President's far-reaching 
ESG agenda could ultimately damage their ability to extend capital to 
their farm and ranch customers.
  Should investment in agriculture also drop off, we could be looking 
not only at higher energy prices but at higher food prices as well and 
possibly actual food supply issues. Between higher energy prices and 
higher food prices, the kind of financial hardship that Americans have 
been experiencing during our current inflation crisis could become a 
fixture for the long term.
  Democrats like to think of themselves as the party of the little guy, 
but the truth is, they have become the party of extreme special 
interests, and the little guy often ends up getting sacrificed as a 
result. Since President Biden and Democrats took office 2 years ago, 
ordinary Americans have faced almost nonstop financial challenges 
thanks to the inflation crisis that Democrats helped to create with 
their massive American Rescue Plan spending bill. If the President's 
ESG agenda continues unchecked, that diminished prosperity could last 
indefinitely.
  In the letter that I am sending to the President later today, I am 
urging his administration to consider the real-world effects of rules 
and regulations on ordinary families and American businesses, and to 
refrain from regulatory actions that would drive up prices even 
further. I hope that the President will listen, but if past is 
prologue, then I am worried that we are looking at 2 more years of 
extreme Democratic policies and 2 more years of economic suffering for 
the American people.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.