Each week while Congress is in session, our Policy team delivers a key update to highlight a topical benefits, health, or retirement news item from the Hill, such as a newly introduced bill, a summary of a committee hearing, or another hot-button matter.
On October 28, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) led a letter with five Democratic colleagues to Department of Labor ("DOL") Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") Chairman Paul Atkins concerning alternative investments in defined contribution plans. The multi-page letter outlines the lawmakers' concerns with President Trump's August 7 executive order, "Democratizing Assets to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors."
In the letter, the lawmakers write that alternative assets "could lead to financial harm for millions of Americans." The letter divides the lawmakers' concerns into two subgroups: private markets, which "have minimal oversight and disclosure requirements, meaning they lack the same investor protection regime afforded to investors in the public markets," and digital assets, "a highly volatile, speculative asset class that poses extreme risk to the retirement savings of hardworking Americans." The signatories to the letter include the ranking members of four Senate committees: Banking (Sen. Warren), Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions ("HELP") (Sen. Sanders), Judiciary (Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL), and Finance (Sen. Ron Wyden, D-OR).
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