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Ernst Works to Stop Military, Federal Employee Retirement from Bolstering Communist China

The board that manages the Thrift Savings Plan has funneled the retirement savings of servicemembers and federal employees to state-sponsored Chinese companies, directly funding the Chinese Communist Party.

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) joined 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 Thrift Savings Plan is a retirement and investment plan for federal employees and members of the military.

“The Chinese Communist Party and our adversaries in Russia, North Korea, and Iran must not be permitted to profit from the retirement accounts of our military personnel and government employees.  I won’t sit idly by as U.S. dollars bolster communists and dictators,” said Senator Ernst.

Background:

Specifically, this bipartisan bill:

  • Prohibits 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.
  • 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.

Read the bill text here.

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