Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., is seen outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, December 8, 2022.
Tom Williams | CQ Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Republican lawmakers, who railed against “awakened capitalism” in the 2022 midterm elections, have accepted tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from some of the same Wall Street money managers who have attacked them for supporting positions the GOP has labeled “far-left.” on environmental protection, social and corporate governance issues.
Conservative activists have pressured Republicans to use their new power in the House of Representatives to block companies and executives who use their influence to promote ESG plans such as clean energy investments or corporate policies that promote abortion rights or LGBTQ rights, among other things support.
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the influential Conservative Political Action Conference, in a September letter urged Republican lawmakers to agree not to meet with “corporate elites” once they regained control of Congress. Schlapp did not respond to a request for comment.
And the GOP gladly complied.
Since taking control of the US House of Representatives, senior Republicans have rejected meetings with the US Chamber of Commerce and set up a task force to “confront the threats to our capital markets posed by those on the far left who are environmental, social and… Advancing governance (ESG) ) proposals.” Formed under the House Financial Services Committee, the panel promises to rein in the Securities and Exchange Commission and “hold accountable market participants who abuse the proxy process or their outsized influence to express ideological preferences to enforce in a manner that circumvents democratic legislation”.
“Progressives are trying to do to American corporations what they have already done to our public education system — they use our institutions to impose their far-left ideology on the American people. Patrick McHenry, RN.C., chairman of the House Financial Services, said in a Feb. 3 statement announcing the group.
Private equity or investment banks are not named in the announcement. But Republicans have vilified BlackRock, the Vanguard Group and State Street for spearheading Wall Street’s push to promote clean energy and what GOP lawmakers often refer to as “left-wing social priorities.”
Yet many Republican lawmakers have received money from the very companies their party criticizes. Ten of the 29 Republicans on the Financial Services Committee, including McHenry, received a total of $140,000 in campaign contributions from these three investment firms during the 2022 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records.
McHenry and Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., Chair of the Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee and designated to chair the ESG Working Group, According to FEC filings, each took $10,000 from BlackRock’s Political Action Committee during the last two-year election cycle. The $10,000 is the maximum amount a PAC can legally contribute to a campaign in an election cycle. It was the third consecutive election cycle that both lawmakers accepted donations from the company’s PAC.
Campaign documents also show that Huizenga and three of the nine members of the working group recently received donations from the PACs of BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street or Goldman Sachs, all of which offer ESG investment strategies to clients. Two other Republican members of the working group received input from executives at Apollo Global Management and Trian Partners, both of whom promote their own ESG policies.
Apollo Global Management has launched a sustainable investment platform that plans to invest $100 billion in clean energy projects from 2022 to 2030, according to its annual ESG report.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told Bloomberg in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that the ESG debate is getting ugly and the company is trying to clear the “misconceptions” surrounding the issue.
“It’s hard because it’s not a business anymore, they do it privately. And for the first time in my pro career, attacks are personal now,” said Fink.
Huizenga also received:
- $5,000 from Vanguard Group PAC in November
- $3,000 from State Street’s PAC from October 2021 to the end of March 2022
- $10,000 from Goldman Sachs PAC from September 2021 to early November 2022
McHenry picked up another:
- $10,000 from State Street from April 2021 to mid-August 2022
- $5,000 from Vanguard in November 2022
FEC submissions show that other members of the ESG working group have received donations from the firms they are likely to review:
- Rep. Andrew Garbarino, RN.Y. received $5,000 from BlackRock in October and $10,000 from Goldman Sachs PAC since November 2021.
- Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wisc., received $10,000 from BlackRock’s PAC during the 2022 cycle and $10,000 from Goldman Sachs’ PAC as of September 2021. Steil’s campaign received a combined $5,000 from Vanguard and State Street in the last year election cycle.
- Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., received $10,000 from BlackRock and a combined $6,500 from Vanguard and State Street in the 2022 cycle.
- Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., received $21,700 in the 2022 cycle from executives at Apollo Global Management. Contributions included donations from CEO Marc Rowan.
- Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., received $5,800 from billionaire Nelson Peltz, founding partner of Trian, in January 2022.
Representatives for Garbarino, Steil and Wagner did not respond to a request for comment. Loudermilk’s representative did not respond to a request for comment.
When asked in June, before he became chairman of the Financial Services Committee, whether lawmakers plan to call Fink or other company CEOs to testify on ESG platforms, McHenry said that “no decision has been made that certain companies should appear before the committee.” should testify”. McHenry’s spokeswoman, Laura Peavy, told CNBC that the congresswoman’s June statement “still stands,” referencing the working group’s official announcement for more details on how it plans to operate.
Campaign ethics experts say the donations question whether there may be any consequences for companies in a larger congressional inquiry into ESG-related practices.
“If these politicians are going to be successful in investigating these companies and pointing out how much they disagree with these policies, then maybe they shouldn’t be taking money from them,” Robert Maguire, research director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told CNBC recently in an interview. “No matter what the outcome, these companies will have more say than any other American.”
Huizenga spokesman Brian Patrick said the donations would not affect lawmakers’ position on ESG issues.
“Congressman Huizenga will remain committed to his stated policies and legislation on ESG,” Patrick said. Huizenga recently told Bloomberg that he intends to reintroduce legislation that would limit BlackRock’s voting rights and impose restrictions on the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Donalds similarly told CNBC that corporate donations do not affect his work on Capitol Hill.
“Any notion that I would change my stance on the detrimental impact that ESG proposals are having on our financial institutions to accommodate donors, lobbyists, or the conventional wisdom around the Beltway is foolish and shows a lack of understanding, how I do business,” said Donalds, who is also a member of the Conservative House Freedom Caucus.
Will Hild, chief executive of Consumers’ Research, a nonprofit that criticizes ESG practices and companies like BlackRock, said Republicans are increasingly “finding it difficult to garner support” from many of these companies. He said he believes the investment firms “clearly have a political agenda with the assets that have been entrusted to them.”
Vanguard was the only investment firm mentioned in this article that responded to CNBC’s request for comment.
Vanguard spokesman Netanel Spero told CNBC in a statement that the company “applies a data-driven, impartial approach to public policy and advocates for investors by working with policymakers to support investor interests and financial markets.” strengthen”.
He also said that “Vanguard’s interests are precisely aligned to empower everyday investors to achieve their long-term financial goals, and we look forward to continued constructive dialogue with lawmakers.”
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