Congress to probe Labor Department regulations

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081207/REG/312089997/1030/MUTUALFUNDS

Concerns persist that advisers will sell in-house funds with high fees
By Sara Hansard
December 7, 2008, 6:01 AM EST

The next Congress will scrutinize a Department of Labor proposal that permits advisers affiliated with an in-house money management unit to recommend whatever products they want, including mutual funds with high management fees, to 401(k) participants.

The proposal raises concerns that advisers might face pressure to sell mutual funds with the heftiest fees.

"It's likely that Congress will be taking a hard look at what the Labor Department has been doing in that area," said Mark Iwry, a non-resident senior fellow with The Brookings Institution in Washington.

He was benefits tax counsel at the Department of the Treasury during the Clinton administration.

INDEPENDENT ADVICE
Ensuring that "workers have access to reliable independent investment advice" is one of the principles outlined by House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., in a recent statement on his legislative priorities for 401(k) plans in the next Congress.

"Too often, workers are given self-interested advice from financial advisers or money managers," he said in the statement. "All plan participants should have access to objective advice and investment information to help them better manage their savings."

FULL story at link.