The federal government could no longer use taxpayer-funded retirement accounts to push companies to adopt leftist political policies, under a new bill from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
The move counters a recent strategy by leftist radicals to gain control over the voting shares of publicly-held corporations, then vote in radical leftist policies that push “woke” social goals and divert billions in cash to activist groups.
One of the biggest shareholders in many corporations are retirement funds held by and managed for federal employees by BlackRock, a far-left, multinational hedge fund.
Cruz has introduced the Stop TSP ESG Act, which “will prevent companies that manage investment funds held in federal employee retirement accounts from using those holdings to vote in corporate shareholder meetings to force leftist Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies onto private sector businesses.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) is co-sponsoring the bill in the Senate.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) previously introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“BlackRock is able to leverage its position as the fund manager to vote in shareholder meetings and to force publicly traded companies to adopt ESG and DEI policies, even if doing so adversely affects investor value. As such, BlackRock prioritizes its political agenda over the interests of employees and retirees who are seeking to maximize their return on investment,” a statement from Cruz's office reads.
“I am proud to join Congressman Buck and sponsor this legislation in the Senate to hold investment fund managers accountable and ensure they do not misuse their position as a fiduciary to advance an agenda contrary to the interests of their investors,” said Cruz.
“As the managing entity of TSP, BlackRock is leveraging the financial weight of the federal retirement system to push their woke ESG and DEI ideology through other peoples' investments. BlackRock's manipulation and brazen politicization of federal retirement accounts is wrong and should not be tolerated,” said Cruz.
“For years, BlackRock has been leveraging taxpayer money to force unwilling businesses to accept ESG and DEI policies. Through its position as the manager of the federal Thrift Savings Plan, BlackRock has abused public capital to push a radical agenda and censor conservative media,” said Buck.
“Woke Wall Street has been using the federal Thrift Savings Plan to force a radical left-wing agenda on the country. That's a violation of their fiduciary duty and the basic precepts of democracy. Policy should be made in Congress, not BlackRock's C-Suite,” said Will Hild, Executive Director at Consumers' Research.
“The Stop TSP ESG Act is an important step in stopping the radical ESG agenda by protecting TSP account holders. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink admits to ‘forcing behaviors.' Shareholders may be unknowingly supporting companies that disparage their values as proxy voting decisions are made by these radicals. Thank you, Rep. Buck, for introducing this legislation,” said Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
READ NEXT: DeSantis Responds To Newsom Debate Challenge
Sadly the left wing democrats won’t allow this common sense bill to pass in the senate, much less in the house and the president. Those phony woke things are what this administration is pushing down everyone’s throats, like it or not. The only way this will ever change is if we purge all left wing democrats from our governments, at all levels, county to federal. Unless the majority gets out and votes these thing down the fringe groups will continue to have the say so over the majority, and that plays right into the democrats hands in getting their votes. Talk about a sick nation, and getting sicker every day the left is in the majority in our congress.
Hooray awesome & needed Thanks Cruz
word to the wise–this is why you vote your stocks yourself at every opportunity. between esg/dei and activists buying a couple of shares in order to push agenda proposals, corporate business is taking a backseat to this virtue signal window dressing crap. it’s worse every report. . . shut them down.