Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) sent a letter to President Trump asking him to replace members of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) after what they call “their short-sighted — and foolish — decision” to steer federal retirement savings to opaque Chinese firms engaged in human rights abuses and a wide range of military-related activities.
In November 2017, the FRTIB changed the international fund (the I-Fund index) to the MSCI ACWI Index, to be enacted in 2020, which allows the resources of the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) to be invested in adversarial nations, principle among them China and Russia.
Senators Rubio, Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Scott introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Taxpayers and Savers Protection (TSP) Act, which would prevent the FRTIB from moving forward next year.
The Senators warned that FRTIB’s decision will effectively use these retirement savings to fund the Chinese government and Communist Party’s efforts to undermine U.S. economic and national security. According to Rubio and Shaheen, the decision will expose nearly $50 billion in retirement assets of federal government employees, including members of the U.S. Armed Forces, to “severe and undisclosed material risks” associated with many of the Chinese companies listed on the MSCI ACWI Index.
