The Department of Labor has moved in earnest to delay its fiduciary rule for 18 months, filing a proposed rule with the Office of Management and Budget this morning. The agency is asking OMB for time to reviews the impact of the rule, per orders from President Trump.

While not unexpected, the delay “in principal is a bad idea,” said Knut Rostad, president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard. “It’s a bad idea to delay the enforcement pieces of this. There is no rationale that I’ve seen that makes it compelling to do so.”

DOL’s proposal to delay the rule was posted by the OMB Thursday morning. If approved, all of the enforcement of the DOL’s fiduciary rule protecting consumers who are rolling over retirement accounts would be delayed from January 1, 2018, to July 1, 2019.

DOL has asked for the time to reassess the impact of the rule, which some broker-dealer firms have asserted is too costly to implement and will make advice too expensive for middle-class investors with smaller accounts. Opponents also say the rule is already encouraging registered reps to corral investors away from commission-based products and accounts and into more costly fee-based accounts to avoid additional reporting requirements and perceived enforcement exposure.

Critics also complain that the DOL’s rule adds a third regulator to existing oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra), although both the SEC and Finra have failed for more than seven years to create their own fiduciary rules.

“We appreciate the administration’s focus on this rule and are encouraged this critical delay is moving forward,” David Bellaire, executive vice president and general counsel of the Financial Services Institute, said in a statement. “We will continue to work with the administration, DOL and the SEC on a uniform standard that protects investors as well as their access to affordable, quality advice, products and services.”

Proponents of the rule say the DOL fiduciary rule is the best protection for baby boomers who have hundreds of billions of dollars in ERISA-protected defined contribution plan assets available to roll over into IRA brokerage accounts, which do not have fiduciary-level protections.

If the OMB approves the delay, the Consumer Federation of America has said they may sue to protect consumers.