NAIFA applauds the 10 Senate Democrats who called upon the Office of Management and Budget to delay a Department of Labor proposal that would expand the definition of fiduciary for professionals who advise employee benefits plans and their participants or IRA owners.
Under the DOL proposal, many advisors who serve retirement plans or individuals saving for retirement would find themselves bound by a fiduciary standard and its associated costs and liabilities. Unless they obtain exemptions from the government, they would no longer be able to receive commissions as compensation.
In an Aug. 2 letter to OMB Director Sylvia Matthews Burwell, the Senate Democrats urged the OMB to delay the proposal until after the Securities and Exchange Commission “has completed its work” on its fiduciary rule.
“We believe that, at a minimum, the Department of Labor should not issue final regulations in this area until the SEC has completed its work and that any regulation the DOL ultimately may propose should be carefully crafted so that it does not upend the SEC's work,” the senators wrote in the letter.
The senators are members of the Senate Banking and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committees.
