The House of Representatives on Sept. 11 voted 269-149 to approve legislation led by U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) that would restrict foreign investments in United States agriculture.
The U.S. Senate on Sept. 12 received the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024, H.R. 9456, and referred it for consideration to the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.
“Today, the United States took a stand against one of our greatest foreign adversaries, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” Rep. Newhouse said on Wednesday. “The CCP has been quietly purchasing American agricultural land at an alarming rate, and this bill is a crucial step towards reversing that trend.”
If enacted, H.R. 9456 would make changes to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), including by requiring CFIUS to determine whether a national security review is necessary for reportable agricultural land transactions that are referred by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Specifically, the bill would direct CFIUS to, after receiving notification from USDA, determine whether a reportable agricultural land transaction is a covered transaction, and whether CFIUS should initiate a national security review or take another action with respect to the transaction, according to the congressional record bill summary.
“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,” said Rep. Newhouse. “Food security is national security, and it is incumbent upon us to keep our adversaries far away from the lands that feed our country and the world.”
The congressman sponsored the bill on Sept. 6 alongside 12 original GOP cosponsors, including U.S. Reps. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Stephanie Bice (R-OK), and David Valadao (R-CA).
The Senate companion bill, the bipartisan S. 5007, introduced on Sept. 10 by U.S. Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), has 16 original cosponsors, including U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Jon Tester (D-MT), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Todd Young (R-IN), and Joni Ernst (R-IA). It will now be reconciled with H.R. 9456.
Following House passage of H.R. 9456, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) thanked Rep. Newhouse for his leadership in protecting the nation’s agriculture from China and its proxies. “Agriculture is the backbone of America and we should take every possible measure necessary to protect it,” he said.