The ESOP Association Announces Paid Media Campaign Urging U.S. Senate to Confirm Daniel Aronowitz as Asst. Secretary of Labor for EBSA

As Senate, House Both Hold ESOP-Related Hearings This Week, the Need for Strong Leadership at EBSA Becomes Urgently Clear

The ESOP Association, the only comprehensive national trade association representing businesses with an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), today announced a paid media campaign urging the U.S. Senate to promptly confirm Daniel Aronowitz as Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).

“Daniel Aronowitz is an extraordinary and uniquely qualified nominee to lead EBSA,” said James Bonham, President and CEO of The ESOP Association. “At least six pro-ESOP bills have been introduced in both houses of Congress, and ESOP-related hearings are being held in the House and Senate this week, yet our chief regulatory agency remains without a leader. ESOPs urgently need Dan’s leadership and experience at EBSA to drive the policy and cultural changes necessary to achieve regulatory clarity and allow employee ownership to flourish.”

On Tuesday, July 22, Bonham testified before the House Education & Workforce Committee during a hearing titled “Restoring Trust: Enhancing Transparency and Oversight at EBSA.” In his statement, Bonham said the “enforcement and investigative actions by the Employee Benefits Security Administration are broken, misaligned, and abusive, and have been for decades.” During his testimony and in exchanges with Committee members, Bonham described the anti-ESOP bias at EBSA in great detail, underscoring the need for major reforms. Bonham addressed three key problem areas specifically: Investigative abuses, including sharing confidential information with plaintiffs’ attorneys; EBSA’s regulation by litigation and its enforcement of unwritten rules; and denial of Congressional intent regarding ESOPs through a decades-long refusal to develop a rule defining the process for valuing ESOP stock.

“Congress and the White House want ESOPs and employee ownership to grow, but we can’t undo decades of anti-ESOP bias until Dan Aronowitz is confirmed,” said Bonham. “We ask the Senate leadership to confirm Dan as quickly as possible so he and Secretary Chavez-DeRemer can begin building a brighter future for ESOPs in America.”

For more information, please visit The ESOP Association’s dedicated site, www.esopassociation.org/confirmaronowitz