Washington Representative Dan Newhouse (R-District 4) released a statement following the passing of the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act through the House of Representatives.
The bill would make changes to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States by making it decide whether a national security review is necessary for reportable agriculture land transactions referred by the Department of Agriculture.
According to the congressional summary of the bill, reportable agriculture land transaction means “a transaction (1) that USDA has reason to believe is a covered transaction; (2) that involves the acquisition of an interest in agricultural land by a foreign person of China, North Korea, Russia, or Iran; and (3) with respect to which a foreign person is required to submit a report to USDA regarding their agricultural land transactions.”
CFIUS oversees the national security risk of foreign investments in the United States. This bill would make CFIUS determine whether a reportable agriculture land transaction is a covered transaction and whether it should initiate a security review.
The bill also expands the current CFIUS membership to include the Secretary of Agriculture on covered transactions involving agriculture land, biotechnology or the agricultural industry.
Rep. Newhouse said in his statement “The Chinese Communist Party has been quietly purchasing American agricultural land at an alarming rate, and this bill is a crucial step towards reversing that trend. We know that USDA’s foreign purchase tracking is wildly flawed, and by adding the Secretary of Agriculture to CFIUS, we can begin to correct course. Food security is national security and it is incumbent upon us to keep our adversaries far away from the lands that feeds our country and the world.”
The bill now heads to the Senate for approval.
You can watch Rep. Newhouse’s floor speech on the legislation here.
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