Latest Development: Ron DeSantis Joins Forces With 18 Republican Governors To Fight President Biden’s ESG Agenda

Credit: Fox News

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis joined with 18 other GOP governors to reject President Joe Biden’s environmental, social, and corporate (ESG) “agenda”. They claim the push is a “direct threat” to the economic freedom of American retirees.

Governors in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming formed the alliance Thursday in what they all described as an effort to ensure American requirement funds aren’t used to “woke” investments.

“Yet again, President Biden put his political agenda above the wellbeing and individual freedoms of hardworking Americans,” the Republican governors wrote. 

“We as freedom-loving states can work together and leverage our state pension funds to force change in how major asset managers invest the money of hardworking Americans, ensuring corporations are focused on maximizing shareholder value, rather than the proliferation of woke ideology.”

“The proliferation of ESG throughout America is a direct threat to the American economy, individual economic freedom, and our way of life, putting investment decisions in the hands of the woke mob to bypass the ballot box and inject political ideology into investment decisions, corporate governance, and the everyday economy,” the states said.

DeSantis has been pushing back against ESG investments in Florida for a while, but he took the charge even further when he lead the 18 states against the Biden administration’s “woke” agenda.

“Florida has emerged as America’s economic engine, with an unemployment rate consistently lower than the nation’s and the highest rate of business formations of any other state. We will not stand idly by as the stability of our country’s economy is threatened by woke executives who put their political agenda ahead of their clients’ finances,” the governor said in a press release.

ESG is an abbreviation used by investors to determine which stocks/bonds they will buy. In early March, the Senate passed a disapproval resolution to end the Department of Labor rule encouraging investors to consider ESG when making investment decisions.

Democrat Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana joined the Senate Republicans in voting for the resolution. 

The resolution passed in the House and the Senate, but it was sent to Biden’s desk after, and the White House assured that President Joe Biden would veto the bill.

The National Review reported:

The governors will pursue various strategies. They may consider banning ESG outright at the state and local levels. Additionally, they may eliminate the “consideration of ESG factors by state and local governments when issuing bonds or [prohibit] state fund managers from considering ESG factors when investing taxpayer money.”

DeSantis and company are also very concerned about the financial sector in their states considering so-called “Social Credit Scores” in banking and lending practices, which they claim would prevent citizens from obtaining financial services like loans, lines of credit, and bank accounts. The governors are mulling a ban on this and they are also considering “stopping financial institutions from discriminating against customers for their religious, political, or social beliefs, such as owning a firearm, securing the border, or increasing our energy independence.”

Other governors who signed the letter include Ariana’s Governor Sarah Sanders, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, and Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp.