A bipartisan bill recently introduced in the House would give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. the power to block all U.S. land purchases by entities from certain “foreign adversary” countries and require mandatory CFIUS filings for those entities buying land near all American military bases. The Protecting U.S. Farmland and Sensitive Sites From Foreign Adversaries Act, introduced last week, also would establish a “presumption of non-resolvability” for those reviews, which would require the committee to assume at the outset that any national security concerns can’t be resolved.

Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and John Cornyn of Texas reintroduced a bill this week to expand U.S. foreign investment reviews to cover companies “working with genetic information.” The Genomics Expenditures and National Security Enhancement Act, originally introduced in 2021 (see 2105250022), would direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to “rewrite its regulations” to require mandatory filings for any foreign investments that involve genetic information. CFIUS would be required to consult with the Department of Health and Human Services on any deal that involves a “genetic data transaction,” and would be required to include the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence and the Foreign Relations Committee in its briefings.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is open to working with lawmakers on a bill that could block China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from investing in American land or agricultural companies, said Paul Rosen, the head of CFIUS. While Rosen didn’t explicitly endorse the Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security Act, suggesting that CFIUS would need more resources if its jurisdiction were broadened, he said the legislation raises valid concerns.

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Both outbound and a new approach for the Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. drew attention at a recent hearing of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and the chairman of the committee suggested that limiting investment screening to active investors, such as venture capital firms, is not enough.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is mitigating more investment deals and is hiring more staff to manage its increasing workload, said Paul Rosen, head of CFIUS. Rosen also said the committee is assessing more violations for breaches of mitigation agreements and is “for the first time” beginning to receive voluntary self-disclosures.

A bill recently passed by a Texas Senate committee could allow the Texas attorney general to submit information about non-notified investment transactions to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., Squire Patton said in a May 12 client alert. SB-2142, passed unanimously by the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs April 25, is the “first of its kind creating a monitoring mechanism at the state level” for foreign direct investments, the firm said.

The Senate will work over the next several months to build a bill Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sees as a sequel to its China package -- also known as the Chips Act -- that could expand China-related export controls and investment restrictions.

Senators have enough bipartisan support to add the USDA secretary to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and expand CFIUS jurisdiction to cover a broader range of agriculture-related purchases, lawmakers said this week. Several said the committee isn’t doing enough to prevent Chinese government-affiliated companies from purchasing U.S. land and want to expand its reach, particularly after CFIUS determined last year that it didn’t have the jurisdiction to intervene in a Chinese purchase of land near a North Dakota Air Force base.

A bipartisan bill could add the USDA secretary to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and block China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from investing in American agricultural companies. The bill is aimed at “preventing foreign adversaries from taking any ownership or control of the United States’ agricultural land and agricultural businesses,” lawmakers said.