Today, President Obama is meeting with independent financialregulators at the White House, according to a press briefing lastweek.

Josh Earnest, the White House’s press secretary, did not specifyif the President would be discussing the Department of Labor’sproposed fiduciary rule, the finalversion of which is slated for release within weeks.

But his comments to the White House press corps implied theproposed rule, which would require a fiduciary standard of care onadvisors to IRAs and most of the country’s 401(k) plans, is part ofthe Obama Administration’s eight-year initiative to reform WallStreet, which Earnest said is one of the “key legacy achievements”of the Obama Presidency.

“We’re obviously quite respectful of the independent role thatthese regulators have to play, but there seems value in at leastkeeping an open line of communication from the White House to theseregulators with periodic engagements like this one,” Earnest toldmembers of the press.

Read: Our coverage of the DOL's proposed fiduciaryrule

The meeting comes as Speaker of the House Paul Ryan,R-Wisconsin, has begun to speak out against the DOL’s rule.

Last month, in the first of several blog posts addressing thefiduciary rule and what Ryan calls DOL overreach, the Speaker’sstaff wrote, “we are determined to do everything possible toprotect consumers and stop this rule.”

Proposed legislation that would require Congress to vote toallow DOL to finalize its rule has passed out of two Housecommittees.

Read: Lawmakers say insurance companies exaggerateDOL rule fallout

Companion legislation in the Senate has yet to be put to acommittee vote.

But any legislation that attempts to block the DOL fromfinalizing its rule would of course have to survive a veto from theWhite House, which many industry watchers say is unlikely,notwithstanding the broad concerns for the rule Democrats havecommunicated throughout the rulemaking process.

Republicans may also attempt to defund the DOL’s ability toimplement its rule in the party’s fiscal year 2017 budget, which isalso expected to be released in coming weeks.

In an interview with the Racine Journal Times, published in acountry that Speaker Ryan represents, he said the DOL’s rule is “anexample of massive overkill by the federal government.”

“I get more mail on this than anything,” Ryan told the JournalTimes.

A blog post published today calls the rule “Obamacare forfinancial planning.”

Speaker Ryan’s website also called attention to a report thatrecently emerged from the staff of Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin,who chairs the Committee on Homeland Security and GovernmentalAffairs.

It was issued after a year-long inquiry into the DOL’s rulemaking process, and alleges that the DOL willfully ignored inputfrom the Securities and Exchange Commission throughout therulemaking process, failed to fully comply with executive ordersrequiring cost-benefit analyses, and accuses the DOL of attemptingto stifle the release of documents requested by Sen. Johnson’sstaff.

In an interview with Politico, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez saidSen. Johnson’s report “isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”

“That report is fraught with so many inaccuracies,” Perez toldPolitico.

“I guess I would ask Sen. Johnson if he had cancer would he wanthis doctor (to) tell him what’s suitable, or would he want hisdoctor to tell him what is most likely to save his life,” saidPerez, referring to the existing suitability standard governingcommission-based investment brokers, which proponents of the DOLrule say does not go far enough to protect investors fromconflicted advice.

A request for comment from Sen. Johnson was not returned beforegoing to press.