WASHINGTON — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today called on the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) to abandon reported plans that it is poised to once again to start investing the retirement funds of participants in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) in companies owned or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In May 2020, the FRTIB announced that it would halt its short-sighted decision to invest billions of dollars from the TSP in opaque Chinese firms engaged in human rights abuses and a wide range of military-related activities. The FRTIB decision came after staunch bipartisan opposition from Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
Earlier this month, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Tom Cotton (R-AR) sent a letter to four of President Joe Biden’s nominees to serve on the FTRIB requesting that they commit to withholding the retirement savings of U.S. service members and other federal employees from Chinese firms that undermine U.S. national security. Rubio and Tuberville placed a hold on all four nominations pending confirmation of that commitment.
“Nearly two years ago, the FRTIB was forced to reverse their misguided, deeply flawed decision to invest federal retirement savings in companies engaged in the CCP’s human rights abuses and a wide range of military-related activities,” said Michael Stumo, CEO of CPA. “Incredibly, it appears that the FRTIB is once again poised to ignore staunch bipartisan opposition in Congress and once again attempt to invest the retirement assets of federal government employees, including members of the U.S. Armed Forces, in China. The proposal is especially egregious since China is a silent partner in Russia’s war on Ukraine. The Senate should not confirm a single nominee to the FRTIB unless they publicly commit to ensure that not a single dollar from the TSP will be invested in a Chinese company.”
