Perez told committee members that he hopes to conclude the rulemaking process as soon as OMB finishes its review, and reminded lawmakers that the existing proposal is actually a re-proposal of the agency’s first effort to regulate an industry-wide standard of fiduciary care in 2010.

“We are six years into this” process, said Perez, who testified that the agency’s rulemaking has been “deliberate and inclusive.”

Perez assured lawmakers more than once that he will personally walk Congress and stakeholders through the changes made to the rule that resulted from more than 300,000 comments DOL received during two comment periods and a four-day public open hearing on the proposal.

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When asked about two pieces of legislation sponsored primarily by Republican opponents of the DOL’s proposal, both of which would require Congressional approval of the rule, Perez said those alternatives “move the status quo backward.”

Throughout the process, DOL’s “north star” has been to create an “enforceable best interest standard,” said Perez.

Most of the two-hour hearing was dedicated to other DOL regulatory initiatives.

Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tennessee and co-sponsor of the Affordable Retirement Advice Protection Act, which was crafted as an alternative to DOL’s rule, pressed Perez specifically on the proposal’s Best Interest Contract Exemption.

That provision would place extensive new disclosure requirements on brokers selling products on commission to IRA owners and sponsors of workplace savings plans with fewer than 100 participants.

Roe cited a recent Washington Post opinion editorial, which called the proposed BIC Exemption “unworkable,” and argued that few retirement providers, if any, would take advantage of it, potentially limiting small account owners’ access to professional retirement planning.

He also noted a new study from the United Kingdom, where a universal fiduciary standard of care was implemented in 2013. Roe said the study shows that the fiduciary standard crafted in the UK has benefited affluent investors, but priced smaller investors out of the advisory services market.

Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Arizona, told Perez that he has never seen more “public outcry” over a proposed regulation than his office has fielded with DOL’s proposed fiduciary rule.

“The last thing we want to see is limited access for lower income people,” said Salmon.

Under the Congressional Review Act, lawmakers will have 60 days from the time the final rule is posted in the Federal Register to review the fiduciary rule.

The House and Senate will then have the option to pass a resolution disapproving of the rule, but it would have to survive a veto from President Obama in order to be effective.

Since 1996, when the Congressional Review Act was enacted, Congress has successfully voted down only one piece of finalized regulation, according to the Federal Register.