Financial Aggression: How the Chinese Communist Party Exploits American Retirees and Undermines...
2025-04-09
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Transcript
The hearing will now come to order. First, let me welcome our colleagues from the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. I want to thank Chairman Molinar and ranking member Krista Morthy for joining myself and ranking member Gillibrand for this incredibly important hearing. The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging is charged with examining any and all matters pertaining to the problems and opportunities of older people. Our jurisdiction is purposely broad because what most impacts aging Americans today could be radically different from what impacts the seniors of future generations. In fact, if we do our jobs here, the problems we worry about today will be solved long before any of our grandchildren have reached their senior years. It's in that spirit that we come together with our colleagues from the US House China Select Committee for a joint hearing focused on the threats that Americans face when their retirement savings are invested in Communist China. Let's make something very clear about why we're here today. The government of Communist China has chosen to be America's enemy. It's simple. I wish it wasn't true. Unfortunately, it is. Unfortunately, that's not a problem that only our military and intelligence community has to worry about. The government of Communist China has shown again and again that it will do anything to hurt America and weaken our place in the world, including going after our citizens and targeting the retirements and hard-earned savings of American seniors. I want to be clear about the threat here. If you have your retirement invested in anything that is controlled by or under the jurisdiction of the Chinese Communist Party, you are at risk of losing every dollar. And this could happen overnight. I know this may sound extreme to some, but here's what we know. There's a clear risk to American investments in Communist China because the Chinese Communist Party, which does nothing but lie, cheat, and steal, controls every business in its country. There is no real private industry in Communist China. The CCP controls everything. Choosing to invest in Communist China threatens our national security and jeopardizes the retirement savings of hardworking Americans.
During today's hearing, we will talk about the threats posed to individual retirements of American seniors, the scams run by the CCP, and the national security risk of investing in Communist China. But as a chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, my focus is on our seniors and using today's hearing and our partnership with our colleagues in the Senate and the House to protect seniors from known bad actors like the Chinese Communist Party and make sure they know where their dollars are being invested and why they need to get the heck out of Chinese investments today. I bet many in this room have retirement accounts and investments, but not they may not even know what companies these investment dollars are being invested in. This is a huge problem. Too often Washington fails to fix problems, not because it lacks authority to do so, but because of intentional or incompetent failure to enforce existing laws and rules. This is true in every part of government, and it's dangerously true when it comes to holding foreign companies and governments accountable. In 2020, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act was signed into law by President Trump, which mandated that if companies in Communist China did not comply with US auditing standards for three consecutive years, they must, not maybe, they must be delisted and banned from trading on American exchanges. This law was amended in 2022, reducing the consecutive years of noncompliance from three years to two years. But unfortunately, under the last administration, the SEC failed to enforce this law. And today, many Chinese companies, including Yum China, Alibaba, and Baidu, are still listed on American exchanges in clear violation of U.S. law. This is a perfect example of why your money is not safe when investing in companies tied to Communist China. I plan on holding the SEC accountable to enforce the law, and I hope to work with Chairman Molnar, Ranking Member Gillibrand, and Ranking Member Crystal Morphy to make sure laws intended to protect Americans from threats posed by Communist China are fully enforced.
We are also fighting to fill gaps in current law and strengthen U.S. enforcement authority with multiple pieces of legislation that will hold communist China accountable. These bills will take the necessary steps to secure our markets, protect consumers, demand transparency and accountability, and ensure investors, especially seniors, who are the most vulnerable, are protected. We need to stop putting Americans' retirement at risk with investments in the corrupt businesses and practices of Communist China. And I believe the new chairman of the SEC will, and I know he's committed to me, that he is going to enforce this act. Stop putting Americans' retirements at risk due to their involvement with propping up the agenda of the CCP. Americans work way too hard to have their financial security destroyed by Communist China. Today, we're going to learn more about this problem and come up with a policy plan to stop it before it is too late and Americans' retirement stability is wiped out by Communist China. I'd now like to recognize Chairman Molinar for his opening statement.
Thank you, Chairman Scott, and thank you for hosting us today. And I just appreciate all the colleagues from the House and the Senate for being part of this. This is a unique hearing, not only because it's bicameral, but because it reflects growing momentum in Congress to confront the growing risks to American investors and our national security.
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