Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton leapt into the fiduciary fight Monday with a New York Times op-ed encouraging President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats to battle Republican efforts to undo a proposal to raise investment advice standards for retirement accounts.
“Hillary Clinton is making a very bold platform statement,” said Sheryl Garrett, founder of the Garrett Planning Network. “She is making a clear statement that not only is she going to uphold the intention of Dodd-Frank, she’s going to go even further.”
The former secretary of state directed Democrats in Congress to “do everything they can to stop” Republican lawmakers from adding language to a government spending bill this week that would effectively dictate parameters of a pending Labor Department rule. Such a measure would kill the plan the agency issued earlier this year, which would require advisers who work with 401(k)s and IRAs to act as fiduciaries, putting their client’s best interests ahead of their own.