The Securities and Exchange Commission can stop the Department of Labor’s proposed fiduciary rule for retirement plan advisors, House Financial Services Committee Chair Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said Wednesday.

Hensarling claimed in a committee session the rule would make financial advice and retirement planning less available and more expensive for low- and middle-income Americans.

At the hearing, Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) accused the SEC of allowing the DOL to take over its territory with the fiduciary rule. “If there ever was a time for the SEC to stand up and do its duty it is now,” he said.

SEC Chair Mary Jo White has said in the past the power over rules for retirement plans belongs to DOL alone. However, she and Labor Department Secretary Tom Perez have repeatedly said the SEC has been consulted extensively on the rule.

White defended the SEC’s administrative law judges as impartial, though critics have pointed out judges have ruled in favor of the agency in 85 percent of cases.

She said she doesn’t think the asset-manager business model creates systemic risk. The Financial Stability Oversight Council is looking at whether asset-management companies should be eligible for systemically important designation and the tight capital standards and Federal Reserve oversight that would go with it.

White said she hopes her staff will be able to make recommendations and calibrations (if needed) for the agency’s exchange-traded funds limit up, limit down circuit-breaker rules.