II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5000 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit investments under the 

Thrift Savings Plan in certain mutual funds that make investment decisions based primarily on environmental, social, or governance criteria, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022 

Mr. LEE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit investments under the Thrift Savings Plan in certain mutual 

funds that make investment decisions based primarily 

on environmental, social, or governance criteria, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No ESG at TSP Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN MUTUAL FUNDS UNDER 

6 THE THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) BOARD; EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—The terms 

2 ‘‘Board’’ and ‘‘Executive Director’’ have the mean3 ings given those terms in section 8401 of title 5, 

4 United States Code. 

5 (2) COVERED SUM.—The term ‘‘covered sum’’ 

6 means any sum of the Thrift Savings Fund that is 

7 invested in a mutual fund, exchange-traded fund, or 

8 other investment vehicle described in subparagraph 

9 (E) or (F) of section 8438(b)(5) of title 5, United 

10 States Code, as added by subsection (b). 

11 (3) MUTUAL FUND WINDOW.—The term ‘‘mu12 tual fund window’’ means the mutual fund window 

13 added by the Board pursuant to the authorization 

14 under section 8438(b)(5) of title 5, United States 

15 Code. 

16 (4) PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘‘participant’’ has 

17 the meaning given the term in section 8471 of title 

18 5, United States Code. 

19 (5) THRIFT SAVINGS FUND.—The term ‘‘Thrift 

20 Savings Fund’’ means the fund established under 

21 section 8437 of title 5, United States Code. 

22 (b) PROHIBITION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 8438(b)(5) of title 

24 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

25 end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(E) The Board may not offer through the mutual 

2 fund window any mutual fund, exchange-traded fund (as 

3 defined in section 270.6c–11 of title 17, Code of Federal 

4 Regulations, or any successor regulation), or other invest5 ment vehicle that invests in bonds or equities and that 

6 makes investment decisions based on ESG criteria, to the 

7 extent that those criteria are unrelated to maximizing 

8 monetary returns for investors. 

9 ‘‘(F) The Board may not offer through the mutual 

10 fund window any mutual fund, exchange-traded fund (as 

11 defined in section 270.6c–11 of title 17, Code of Federal 

12 Regulations, or any successor regulation), or other invest13 ment vehicle that is marketed as making investment deci14 sions based on ESG criteria. 

15 ‘‘(G) In this paragraph, the term ‘ESG criteria’ 

16 means any of the following criteria: 

17 ‘‘(i) Environmental criteria, including— 

18 ‘‘(I) emissions, climate change, sustain19 ability, environmental justice, pollution, or con20 servation; or 

21 ‘‘(II) whether a company is engaged in the 

22 exploration, production, utilization, transpor23 tation, sale, or manufacturing of fossil fuel24 based energy. 

25 ‘‘(ii) Social criteria, including— 


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1 ‘‘(I) diversity criteria, including— 

2 ‘‘(aa) the sex, race, ethnicity, gender 

3 identity, sexual orientation, or socio4 economic status of the owners, board mem5 bers, employees, or customers of compa6 nies; or 

7 ‘‘(bb) whether the board members, 

8 employees, or customers described in item 

9 (aa) are members of a labor organization 

10 (as that term is defined in section 2 of the 

11 National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 

12 152)); or 

13 ‘‘(II) whether a company is engaged in the 

14 manufacture, transportation, or sale of fire15 arms, firearms accessories, or ammunition. 

16 ‘‘(iii) Political criteria, including the perceived 

17 or actual political affiliations, donations, or associa18 tions of companies. 

19 ‘‘(iv) Criteria for corporate governance stand20 ards that differ from the applicable standards re21 quired under State and Federal law, as in effect on 

22 the date of enactment of this subparagraph.’’. 

23 (2) REVIEW AND REMOVAL.—The Executive Di24 rector shall establish a process through which, dur25 ing the period beginning on the date of enactment 


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1 of this Act and ending on the effective date de2 scribed in subsection (c), members of the Board 

3 shall— 

4 (A) identify investment vehicles that— 

5 (i) were added to the mutual fund 

6 window pursuant to the rule entitled ‘‘Mu7 tual Fund Window’’ (87 Fed. Reg. 27917 

8 (effective June 1, 2022)); and 

9 (ii) would violate subparagraph (E) or 

10 (F) of section 8438(b)(5) of title 5, United 

11 States Code, as added by paragraph (1); 

12 and 

13 (B) remove from the mutual fund window 

14 all investment vehicles identified under subpara15 graph (A). 

16 (3) EXISTING INVESTMENTS IN IMPERMISSIBLE

17 MUTUAL FUNDS.— 

18 (A) NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days after 

19 the effective date described in subsection (c), 

20 the Executive Director shall notify each partici21 pant of the option to make an election under 

22 subparagraph (B). 

23 (B) ELECTION.—During the 90-day period 

24 beginning on the day after the date on which 

25 the 30-day period described in subparagraph 


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1 (A) ends, a participant may elect to have any 

2 covered sums credited to the account of that in3 dividual in the Thrift Savings Fund reinvested 

4 in accordance with section 8438 of title 5, 

5 United States Code, as amended by paragraph 

6 (1). 

7 (C) MANDATORY REINVESTMENT.—Begin8 ning on the day after the date on which the 90- 

9 day period described in subparagraph (B) ends, 

10 the Board shall ensure that all covered sums 

11 with respect to which elections have not been 

12 made under that subparagraph are invested in 

13 the Government Securities Investment Fund es14 tablished under section 8438(b)(1)(A) of title 5, 

15 United States Code. 

16 (4) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 8477(e)(3) of 

17 title 5, United States Code, is amended— 

18 (A) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by striking 

19 ‘‘or’’ at the end; 

20 (B) in subparagraph (C)(ii), by striking 

21 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

22 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(D) by any participant or beneficiary against 

24 the Board— 


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1 ‘‘(i) to obtain any appropriate equitable re2 lief to redress a violation of subparagraph (E) 

3 or (F) of section 8438(b)(5); 

4 ‘‘(ii) to enjoin any act or practice which 

5 violates subparagraph (E) or (F) of section 

6 8438(b)(5); or 

7 ‘‘(iii) to obtain actual or compensatory 

8 damages to redress a violation of subparagraph 

9 (E) or (F) of section 8438(b)(5).’’. 

10 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

11 paragraphs (1) and (4) of subsection (b) shall take effect 

12 on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment 

13 of this Act. 

Æ 


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