Republicans Establish Working Group to Push Back Against ESG Movement

U.S. Rep.-elect Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) delivers remarks in the House Chamber during the fourth day of voting for Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Republican House Financial Services Committee leaders are establishing a first-of-its-kind task group to coordinate their response to numerous environmental, social, and governance (ESG) movement-related ideas.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), announced the formation of the group on Feb. 3, saying it would be a working group led by Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.).

According to a press release shared with The Epoch Times by Huizenga’s office, the working group’s goal is to counter the danger that individuals on the extreme left who are advocating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) measures pose to our capital markets.

The working group will look at measures to: counter the threat that far-left environmental, social, and governance initiatives represent to our free markets, restrict the SEC’s regulatory overreach, uphold the materiality standard as a cornerstone of our disclosure regime, and hold market participants accountable for abusing the proxy process or their disproportionate influence to impose ideological preferences in ways that undermine democratic lawmaking.

Congressman Huizenga released a statement following his selection as the head of the new ESG Working Group: “Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in West Virginia v. EPA that government bureaucracies cannot arbitrarily expand their own regulatory reach.

“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,” said the congressman. “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.”

McHenry also issued a statement about the working group, saying that he believes the political left are working 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.”

The congressman went on to say that the ESG movement and proposals related to it are one of the tools used to make changes to the system of government that conservatives hope to retain.

“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,” McHenry said, according to the press release. “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.”

Other ESG Working Group members include Reps. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas), Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.)