WASHINGTON — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today released a statement following House passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 (H.R. 2670). However, the House’s FY 2024 NDAA failed to include an amendment offered by U.S. Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL), and that CPA strongly supports, that prohibits the retirement savings of all federal employees, including Members of the Armed Forces, from being invested in China.
Despite bipartisan, bicameral support, the House failed to include the Taxpayers and Savers Protection (TSP) Act, which was offered as an amendment. The TSP Act has been introduced by Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate, and it would ban the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) from steering federal employee retirement funds in the TSP to China.
According to data published by CPA, and that was reported on by The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, the TSP has serious exposure to companies owned or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As such, “[m]illions of federal employees can invest in Chinese companies sanctioned by the U.S. government via its flagship retirement plan, even though these companies have been branded a danger to national security or are accused of profiting from forced labor or other human rights abuses.”
Shockingly, the FRTIB, which is in charge of managing the TSP, admitted publicly that it has not conducted any due diligence to evaluate whether the TSP and the products it offers in its Mutual Fund Window include Chinese-owned entities that pose national security risks or fund Chinese companies engaged in human rights violations.
“The House FY 2024 NDAA contains meaningful provisions to increase procurement of domestically manufactured goods and that aim to counter the threat the CCP poses to U.S. economic and national security,” said Ms. Robby Stephany Saunders, CPA’s Vice President of National Security. “However, the House missed an important opportunity to ban federal retirement savings from flowing to CCP companies that are directly aiding and abetting Beijing’s military modernization, surveillance state, and other malign activities. There is strong bipartisan, bicameral support for this legislation, and we urge the Senate to include the TSP Act in its NDAA when it considers it next week.”
CPA supports the following provisions included in the FY 2024 NDAA:
- A provision prohibiting American taxpayer funds to be used for research in or in connection with China;
- A provision that requires the Secretary of Defense to provide priority for domestically sourced, fully traceable, bovine heparin approved by the Food and Drug Administration when available;
- A provision that prohibits the U.S. government and those that contract with the U.S. government from acquiring genetic sequencing equipment from Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) and its subsidiaries
