U.S. House Passes the “Protecting American Agriculture from Communist China” Act
On Thursday, the U.S. House passed H.R. 9456, the “Protecting American Agriculture from Communist China” Act.
The bill specifically adds the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
CFIUS is a federal interagency committee authorized by law to review and address national security risks arising from certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States.
This Committee is made up of nine federal agencies, including the Department of the Treasury as Chair, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Commerce and four other federal agencies. However, this Committee does not include the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) responsible for collecting data on foreign land acquisitions.
Because USDA is not on the CFIUS committee, crucial data and notice of foreign acquisitions rarely gets any federal oversight or review. The USDA, under the Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) of 1978, requires a foreign person who acquires, disposes of, or holds an interest in the United States agricultural land must disclose such transactions and holdings to the Secretary of Agriculture within 90 days of the transaction.
However, members of Congress have found that USDA is woefully negligent in collecting or reporting foreign holdings in the U.S. They have not regularly shared AFIDA data with CFIUS in a timely or useful way.
Interestingly, the House passed H.R. 9456 by a bi-partisan vote of 269-149.
Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04), the sponsor of the bill, said:
“Today, the United States took a stand against one of our greatest foreign adversaries, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”
“The CCP 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 the U.S. Department of Agriculture’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.”
Representative Mike Flood (R-KS) delivered strong comments from the floor:
“According to the United States Department of Agriculture, as of 2022, foreign individuals held an interest in over 43 million acres of U.S. ag land. For context, 43 million acres is larger than the state of Florida and greater than the total land area of twenty-nine U.S. states.
Between December 2021 and December 2022, privately held foreign agricultural land increased by more than 3 million acres and now accounts for 3.4 percent of all privately held agriculture lands in the United States.
Our nation’s land is linked to our national security, food supply, and energy resources. This rising trend of foreign ownership is highly concerning.”
Besides adding the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee, it also covers transactions, including land, biotechnology, transportation, storage, and processing. It also requires additional reporting of land acquisitions and investments from individuals of the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Senate companion bill, S. 5007, was introduced by Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) on September 10, 2024, and co-sponsors include: Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), John Barrasso (R-WY), Jon Tester (D-MT), John Fetterman (D-PA), Joe Manchin (I-WV), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Katie Britt (R-AL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Todd Young (R-IN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Joni Ernst (R-IA).
Full text of H.R. 9456 can be found here.
