A House lawmaker recently introduced a bill that would add the U.S. agriculture secretary as a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. The Agricultural Security Risk Review Act, which has been previously introduced both in the House and Senate, would allow the U.S. Department of Agriculture to have input in investment transaction reviews, Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said May 20. The bill comes during a time when foregn ownership of U.S. agricultural businesses is “steadily” increasing, Lucas said. He called the move “long overdue.” “I know firsthand just how important our agriculture industry is, which is why Congress must remove the hurdles that keep USDA from having a permanent seat at the table with CFIUS’ review of foreign transactions," Lucas said.
Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and John Cornyn of Texas introduced a bill to bolster the ability of U.S. foreign investment reviews to cover genetic information. The Genomics Expenditures and National Security Enhancement Act would require mandatory filings to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. for “any deal” that involves a company working with genetic information, Rubio said May 20. Under the bill, CFIUS would be required to consult with the Department of Health and Human Services on any deal that involves a “genetic data transaction,” which would increase “cross-agency awareness” of these transactions. The bill would also require CFIUS to include the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence and the Foreign Relations Committee in its briefings.
A U.S. commercial space company announced that it received a draft national security agreement (NSA) from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which details requirements and conditions it must meet before CFIUS approves its transaction. The company, Momentus Inc., said it voluntarily notified CFIUS of its proposed business combination with Stable Road Acquisition Corp. but must resolve CFIUS’s “national security concerns” about Momentus’ foreign ownership and control, according to a May 14 news release.
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The Biden administration will likely build on the U.S.’s recently revised investment screening regulations by expanding the list of countries that qualify as excepted foreign states, trade lawyers said. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. currently only recognizes Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom as excepted states (see 2002270049) -- a designation that reduces the likelihood that CFIUS will heavily intervene in deals from those countries -- but could soon also recognize Japan, said Richard Sofield, a Wiley Rein trade lawyer.
Latham & Watkins hired Damara Chambers, previously with Vinson & Elkins, as a partner in the Litigation & Trial Department and a member of the White Collar Defense & Investigations practice, Latham said in a news release. “Chambers is a leading lawyer who focuses on cross-border investment matters, including national security reviews by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), and the Department of Energy, among other agencies,” the firm said.
President Joe Biden has made his choices for several senior positions at Treasury, including the agency’s top sanctions and foreign investment officials, Bloomberg reported April 30. Biden will nominate attorney Brian Nelson to be undersecretary of the Terrorism and Financial Intelligence office, which oversees the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and attorney Josh Berman to be assistant secretary overseeing Treasury’s work on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., according to the report.
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U.S. universities are opposing the Senate’s Strategic Competition Act of 2021 over a provision that would expand foreign investment screening to include foreign gifts over $1 million given to U.S. universities. In a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month, four academic groups said the expanded jurisdiction awarded to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. would subject “many gifts” received by colleges to a CFIUS review and would make it “harder” for colleges to conduct research.