[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3407-3408]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1515
                         SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Speaker, I would like today to discuss an issue 
that is on the horizon that could very well affect the economic freedom 
of Americans, especially their family's prosperity and happiness. It is 
an issue that I would also like to thank the chairman of the Financial 
Services Committee, Representative Frank, and the ranking member of the 
subcommittee, Representative Kanjorski, for bringing forward.
  The issue I am talking about is the issue of sovereign wealth funds. 
Many people will question what is a sovereign wealth fund. The answer 
is very simple. A sovereign wealth fund is a fund that is controlled by 
a foreign government that then invests into the private market of the 
United States.
  Many people, especially those within my own party, disturbingly think 
sovereign wealth funds are a wonderful way to inject capital into the 
United States. The reality is these are very dangerous 
instrumentalities of foreign nations and would allow for the potential 
interference of these foreign nations in our domestic affairs, and not 
only within our economic sphere.
  One of the reasons I joined the Republican Party was because I oppose 
socialism, communism; and I wanted to advance the cause of liberty. A 
sovereign wealth fund denies all of those. Again, a sovereign wealth 
fund is controlled by a government. Those who recall economics can 
understand that when a government buys an asset from the private 
sector, when the government owns it, the product or service has been 
``nationalized.'' This is the root of socialism. Government buys 
something in the private sector, socialism gets bigger, free markets 
and free enterprise and free people get diminished. This is the root 
problem of a sovereign wealth fund. It will diminish the

[[Page 3408]]

economic liberty of individuals in the face of governments that are 
trying to control free enterprise.
  We should not have this occurring in the United States of America, 
the bastion of free enterprise conducted by free people.
  The second problem I have with sovereign wealth funds grows from the 
first: a foreign country controls this fund. This is not protectionism 
of anything except Americans' liberty, prosperity, sovereignty, and 
security.
  The Communist Chinese have one of the largest sovereign wealth funds 
in the world. As they continue to tell us, although few people seem to 
understand that they are serious, they remain communists. The communist 
sovereign wealth fund from China comes in and buys private assets in 
the United States. Those government assets are now socialized; and, 
again, your freedom, liberty, prosperity, and security are diminished 
and there is a huge problem with this in the hands of the Communist 
Chinese.
  In addition, whereas in the free market private investment funds have 
to raise capital voluntarily from individuals and then make rational 
decisions based upon the profit motive, a sovereign government's wealth 
fund is allowed to take and spend and invest. They spend and invest 
that which they take from their people. They have no accountability to 
these citizens, and they can invest for a political motive.
  These entities of sovereign wealth funds are antithetical to private 
sector free market investment. And, again, when they are forced to 
operate on a private sector profit motive, the sovereign wealth fund 
can operate on a political motive, which may or may not be in the long-
term interests of the people of the United States.
  So for two reasons I would like to go on record immediately in my 
opposition to sovereign wealth funds in any nation's hands being 
invested in the United States and socializing our private sector 
assets. And I would like to also especially emphasize my abject 
contempt for nations that are opposed to the United States' continued 
existence as a bastion of liberty being able to buy up influence within 
the United States based upon a solely political motive, and that 
political motive is not in the people's best interests.
  So to my fellow Republicans I would ask them to remember why they are 
Republicans, to remember that we have the duty to advance the economic 
liberty of Americans and to protect and preserve their liberty and 
prosperity and security, and ask them to reassess these sovereign 
wealth funds. Because no matter how much money they inject into our 
economy to socialize private sector assets, the cost we are going to 
pay to the long-term vitality of our free people is too high a price to 
tender to the very enemies of our existence.

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