Administration April 4, 2008

Legislators Put Off Vote on TSP Real Estate Fund

April 28, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Lawmakers have delayed a vote on a bill to add a real estate fund to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), an addition that has sparked a great deal of opposition from the TSP board.
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Even with disapproval by the TSP board, 160 Congressional members say they will back the  bill , arguing that federal employees should – like 401(k) investors – be able to put money in the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) funds, according to Govexex.com.

Those opposing the bill say that opening the plan up to real estate could prompt other interest groups to want to be added.

The board members in December said that wanted some changes to the plan, but feared that unwanted changes would be tacked onto a bill (see TSP Board Wants Plan Changes) – one of them being the real estate fund. In the beginning of March, representatives from major federal employee groups formally opposed the add-on of REIT as a fund option (see Federal Employee Groups Strongly Against REIT in TSP ).

US Representative Tom Davis, (R-Virginia), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, asked the subcommittee scheduled to vote on the bill to pass it up to the full committee without voting on it first, but there is no date scheduled for that vote, according to Govexec.com.

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