This article comes NGFA's July 28 newsletter.
The Senate this week voted 91-7 to approve a bipartisan amendment to the annual defense policy bill prohibiting China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from purchasing U.S. farmland.
The measure, proposed by Sens. Mike Rounds, R-SD, Jon Tester, D-MT, Steve Daines, R-MT, and John Kennedy, R-LA, would require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) to bar investors “subject to the jurisdiction or direction of” the governments of China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran from purchasing land.
It would also require CFIUS to review purchases exceeding 320 acres or $5 million by investors from any foreign country.
The amendment provides the president the ability to exempt investors from the requirements if it is “vital to the national security interests of the United States.” As noted in Agri-Pulse, Sen. Rounds said the bill also includes exceptions for companies from these countries already operating in the U.S.
Voting against the amendment were Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Ed Markey, D-MA; Chris Murphy, D-CT; Alex Padilla, D-CA; Elizabeth Warren, D-MA.; Peter Welch, D-VT; and Rand Paul, R-KY. Sens. Tim Scott, R-SC, and Dick Durbin, D-IL, did not vote.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Air Force declared a Chinese company’s proposed North Dakota corn mill a national security risk. The Chinese-owned Fufeng Group purchased 300 acres of land 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base.
The Grand Forks City Council unanimously voted to cancel the corn mill plant project in February. The Biden administration on May 5 published a proposal to expand the jurisdiction of the CFIUS to include foreign acquisitions of real estate within 100 miles of U.S. military bases.