Several members of Congress introduced a cross-party bill Thursday (May 20) aimed at prohibiting investments in Chinese companies by the federal retirement savings program (TSP). The Republicans sponsoring the bill say it is absolutely unacceptable to allow the Chinese Communist Party and government to benefit from the retirement savings plans of U.S. government employees.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a Republican U.S. senator from Florida, on Thursday, along with Sen. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Sen. The Taxpayers and Savers Protection Act (TSP Act) was introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA).
The bill would prohibit the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) from investing the federal government’s retirement savings in China.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that China’s Communist Party and government continue to benefit from the retirement accounts of U.S. government employees and military personnel,” Rubio said in a statement. “Congress cannot stand by and let the Federal Retirement Plan Commission fund the rise of Beijing at the expense of America’s future and national security interests.”
Rubio had introduced the bill in the previous Congress in 2019. According to its contents, the bill would conditionally prohibit federal savings plans from investing funds in securities listed on Chinese exchanges. The bill specifically prohibits investments in issuers listed on foreign stock exchanges that the U.S. Public Company Accounting and Oversight Board (PCAOB) cannot inspect.
Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Walz (R-Fla.), also of Florida, said the bill would prohibit the investment of funds in Chinese securities. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL), also of Florida, will introduce a counterpart version of the same bill in the House.
In addition, according to Govexec.com, a government affairs website, Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-TN) of Alabama introduced a similar bill on May 18 that would prohibit the administration of federal retirement savings plans from allowing plan participants to invest in a broader international investment index that includes Chinese companies. The bill, entitled “Prohibiting Retirement Savings Plans from Investing in a Broader International Investment Index,” was introduced by Sen.
The bill, known as the “Prohibiting TSP Investment in China Act,” would prohibit retirement savings plans from investing in “any security of a Chinese company. The bill, called the Prohibiting TSP Investment in China Act, would prohibit retirement savings plans from investing in “any securities of a Chinese company.
We continue to see Chinese companies fail to follow the rules, engage in intellectual property plagiarism and disregard basic regulatory standards at the expense of investors,” Tuberville said in a statement. “Every taxpayer dollar should not be invested in these entities that have a clear history of corruption. Such investments put investors and our country at risk.”
Officials with the federal retirement savings program declined to comment, citing the fact that the text of the Tuberville bill has not yet been released. But officials have noted in the past that questions about whether an investment market is safe for U.S. investments should be considered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), not the federal retirement savings plan’s administration.
The Government Executive website reports that the Federal Retirement Savings Investment Board voted in 2017 to broaden the retirement savings plan’s international fund index (index) to include companies from more than 50 countries, including China and Canada. The committee upheld the decision despite pressure from Republican senators.
Former President Trump ordered the commission to stop implementing the new market index last year and appointed three new members to the commission, the report said. As a result, the committee voted to delay the implementation of the new investment index until the new members were confirmed by the Senate.
Longtime committee chairman Michael Kennedy (Michael Kennedy) subsequently resigned, and the committee’s three new members were not confirmed by the Senate.
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