Slim Chance to Stop DOL Fiduciary Rule, but Brokers Must Keep Fighting: Rep. Mulvaney

One of the "keys" to opposing DOL's rule, Brown told the audience, is "your engagement in this [lobbying] process. You have a professional responsibility to your business and clients to get engaged as a citizen lobbyist."

Brown said the bipartisan legislation in the works intended to "protect the retirement savings of all Americans" from the upcoming release DOL's rule along with attempts to include language in an omnibus spending bill, are not "silver bullets" to solve the ultimate release of DOL's rulemaking.

Indeed, Mulvaney stated that he and other representatives are pushing to ensure that a spending bill that includes defunding language is finalized before Christmas. "We could pass the bill to say that can't use any of the money to implement this rule," he said, but the "Senate has not passed an appropriations bill in the last five years."

Mulvaney conceded that presidential backing of DOL's fiduciary rulemaking adds to the likelihood of not being able to stop the rule. However, there is "one brief ray of hope," he said, in that DOL's rule could be reversed by the next administration.

"I do think [DOL's rule] will go into place," Mulvaney said, "but with a different person in the White House — Democrat or Republican — the level of commitment to it [the rule] may be different."

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