Senators Rick Scott and John Fetterman introduced bipartisan legislation, the Disclosing Investment in Foreign Adversaries Act, to protect American investors from adversarial countries.
The Democratic and Republican Senators said the bill provides transparency for Americans into investments made by American private equity firms into countries of concern, such as Russia or Communist China, so Americans are not unknowingly investing their hard-earned savings and retirement funds into U.S. adversaries.
The legislation addresses this problem by requiring private equity, mutual funds, and ETFs to annually disclose the percentage of any assets invested in countries like China to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); requiring the SEC to publicly release a report of firms investing assets in countries of concern and the percentage of those invested assets; and requiring entities selling stock in the private markets to disclose the recipient of the investment, the intended location of the investment, and the investment’s intended purpose.
“Our adversaries, like Communist China and Russia, benefit from the current status quo that grants them a complete lack of transparency, and currently, our financial markets enable and often help fund their bad behavior,” Florida Senator Rick Scott said. “These foreign adversaries lie, cheat, steal, and abuse their own people using the power of American investment dollars, and without public disclosure and accountability, they can get away with it. I am proud to lead this bill to provide Americans transparency on how their savings are being invested, and which companies and regimes they may be supporting. We have to stop sending Americans’ hard-earned dollars to fuel our enemies’ hate against us.”
“You work hard for your money, and you should absolutely know how it’s being invested, especially if it boosts the economies of our adversaries,” said Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat. “This bill protects the interests of hardworking Americans and our great country, while making sure firms publicly disclose what they are doing. When I think of ‘America first,’ this bill is a good example.”
The Disclosing Investment in Foreign Adversaries Act, which Senator Rick Scott introduced last Congress, is the latest of the Florida Republican’s bills to hold Communist China accountable for working to destroy America’s financial systems, including a five-bill package aimed at protecting American investors from China’s financial exploitation and legislation cracking down on Chinese influence in American markets.
