Senator Manchin joins Senator Tim Scott in opposing SEC climate rule

Sen. Tim Scott’s attempt to repeal a Securities and Exchange Commission climate disclosure rule has gained support from one Democrat: Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution on Wednesday, which allows Congress to quickly overturn administrative rules, according to The Washington Examiner.

The action comes after the SEC voted 3-2 to implement a rule that mandates requirements for companies to report how their operations impact the climate to their investors.

One of the requirements is for large and mid-sized companies to report all greenhouse gas emissions, which must be audited by an independent party.

The resolution has garnered 34 co-sponsors, including Manchin, providing enough support for a discharge petition and bipartisan backing for Scott’s legislation to potentially reach President Joe Biden for approval.

Scott criticized the SEC’s rule as “federal outreach at its worst” that “threatens economic opportunity across the country,” in a statement.

Using the Congressional Review Act, resolutions can bypass Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and go to the Senate floor, with potential support from Manchin and another centrist, Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

The resolution is also likely to pass in the Republican-controlled House, but Biden may veto it, as he has done with previous Congressional Review Act resolutions that made it to a Senate vote.

Scott argued that the SEC is deviating from its mission with this ruling, stating that the agency’s purpose is to regulate capital markets and ensure economic success for all Americans, not to impose a partisan climate agenda on businesses.