{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.banks.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-banks-introduces-legislation-to-provide-transparency-to-american-investors/", "Senator Banks Introduces\u00a0Legislation to Provide Transparency to American Investors", "2025-10-31", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "IN", "Jim Banks", "B001299", "www.banks.senate.gov", "banks", "https://www.banks.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C, \u2013 Yesterday, Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced the Providing Complete Information to Retirement Investors Act. This bill would require retirement plans to help workers better understand their investment options by clearly explaining the difference between professionally managed funds and self-directed investments. Additionally, it would explain the risks to participants when they move money into non-fiduciary options. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is an original cosponsor of this bill.\n\nSenator Jim Banks: (R-Ind.): \u201cAmericans work hard for their retirement, and their money should be working for them, not to fund the Left\u2019s woke agenda. This bill makes sure retirees know exactly where their savings are going so they can invest with confidence and common sense.\u201d\n\nSenator Bill Cassidy (R-La.): \u201cFiduciaries\u2019 sole responsibility is to prioritize what is best for the workers\u2019 hard-earned savings. These pro-worker, pro-family bills protect millions of Americans\u2019 retirement savings from political ideology.\u201d\n\nKey Provisions of the Providing Complete Information to Retirement Investors Act are:\n\nRequires employer-sponsored defined contribution plans to explain to participants the difference between choosing investments selected by Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) fiduciaries and those self-selected through a brokerage window.\n\nRequires ERISA-governed plans to provide a notice to investors each time they allocate money into or out of a brokerage window that such investments were not selected by a fiduciary and may result in lower returns.\n\nFull text of the bill can be found here.\n\nBackground:\n\nIn recent years, left-wing investment firms have mismanaged the hard-earned retirement savings of millions of Americans through so-called \u201cEnvironmental, Social, Governance\u201d (ESG) plans. ESG funds intentionally prioritize left-wing social priorities over business fundamentals when they select investments. Several academic studies have found that ESG funds result in lower returns for investors. Some ESG funds have sought greater business by soliciting 401(k) investors to self-direct their retirement savings through a \u201cbrokerage window.\u201d This poses increased risk for investors, as investment plans selected through a brokerage window do not have a fiduciary responsibility to look out for the investor\u2019s best interests.\n\nThis bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives in September 2023 as part of the Roll Back ESG To Increase Retirement Earnings Act.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.banks.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-banks-introduces-legislation-to-provide-transparency-to-american-investors/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8215130548924208, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}