A group of bipartisan senators this week reintroduced the bipartisan Taxpayers and Savers Protection (TSP) Act which would ban the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) from steering federal retirement savings to China.
The bill was first introduced in 2021 and 2019. This version of the bill was introduced by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rick Scott (R-FL), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
FRTIB, the board that manages the Thrift Savings Plan, had been “funneling the retirement savings of servicemembers and federal employees to state-sponsored Chinese companies directly funding the Chinese Communist Party,” according to a press release from Rubio.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that the Chinese Communist Party and government continues to profit from the retirement accounts of U.S. government employees and members of the military,” Rubio said. “Congress can’t sit on the sidelines and allow the TSP Board to fund Beijing’s rise at the expense of our nation’s future prosperity and national security interests.”
If passed, the Taxpayers and Savers Protection Act would prohibit the TSP from investing in companies listed on the exchanges of a country of concern, headquartered in a country of concern, or substantially controlled by a country of concern.
The bill identifies countries of concern based on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s annual threat assessment. Those countries are China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
“The People’s Republic of China should not be profiting from the retirement accounts of U.S. government employees and service members, said Shaheen. “It’s dangerous to prop up companies that threaten the interests of the U.S. and our allies, and it would be particularly egregious to do so with the hard-earned savings of federal workers, including our military and civilian workforce. I am proud to again join Senator Rubio on this bicameral, bipartisan legislation to ensure that this does not continue, and I’m glad our legislation now expands this ban to adversaries like Russia, Iran and North Korea to send a clear message about how the U.S. characterizes Xi’s behavior and the actors he aligns with.”
In June 2022, Rubio released a video titled, “Are You Retiring in China?”
“We know these Chinese companies do not play by the rules,” Rubio said. “There is absolutely no reason the retirement savings of service-members and federal employees should be funding companies working with the Chinese government and military.”