Washington, D.C. —The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement in response to new legislation from U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) that would reverse a final rule from the U.S. Department of Labor to limit retirement plans from voting on corporate proxies and undermine workers’ voice in the public companies where they invest.

“The EMPOWERS Act would help rein in the dominant role played by a small group of giant asset managers in determining the outcome of corporate elections and restore the decision-making authority to the true shareholders – workers and retirees,” said Graham Steele, Senior Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project. “We have seen time and again that the outsized footprint of a few large financial companies in the governance of corporate America results in an excessive deference to management and the needs of wealth and well-connected being put ahead of the public interest. The EMPOWERS Act is an important step toward breaking the new version of the old money trust.”

For more information about the highly concentrated asset management industry, its concerning impact on our economy, and what policymakers can do about it, read Senior Fellow Graham Steele’s groundbreaking new report: “The New Money Trust.”

###

Economic Liberties works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.