Toomey and Johnson Call on GAO to Immediately Withdraw Global Warming Report
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, and U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, are calling on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to immediately withdraw a recent report indicating a possible risk from global warming to federal worker retirement savings. The lawmakers wrote that GAO heavily relied on a report unlawfully issued by a federal advisory subcommittee that was stacked with individuals who had conflicts of interest.
In
June 2021, the GAO published a report recommending the Federal Retirement
Thrift Investment Board evaluate federal retirees’ investment offerings in the
Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) for risks related to global warming. But as
the letter points out, the GAO report drew on opinions from an advisory
subcommittee to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The actions of the
advisory subcommittee violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
From
the letter:
“We have significant concerns about
GAO’s reliance on the subcommittee report given that the report was issued in
violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the regulations issued
thereunder, and MRAC’s charter. The report acknowledges that it reflects solely
the work of the subcommittee and does ‘not necessarily reflect the views of the
MRAC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or its staff, or the U.S.
Government.’ The subcommittee is composed of a number of individuals who
represent entities poised to benefit financially from the creation of a climate
risk regulatory structure, such as asset managers, data providers, and Wall
Street banks.”
. . .
“Because the subcommittee report was
issued in an apparent violation of these provisions, we ask that GAO
immediately withdraw its report on retirement savings and ask that you respond
to us regarding this matter no later than October 29, 2021.”
Back
in July, the two senators wrote
a letter to the FRTIB expressing concern about asset managers
prioritizing liberal policy objectives over federal employees’ retirement
savings by using their control of proxy votes for federal employees’ TSP
investments.
To
read the senators full letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), click
here.
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