Political Quotes

“Mr. President, China and Russia are our near-peer adversaries, and North Korea and Iran are no friends of the United States. In just a few minutes, we will vote on an amendment that I proposed with Senator Tester that would ban China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran from purchasing American farmland or ag businesses. In recent years, our country has seen, firsthand, attempts by our near-peer competitors to acquire land adjacent to our military bases. In 2020, a Chinese-linked company planned to build a wind energy farm project near Del Rio, TX, only miles away from Laughlin Air Force Base, where U.S. pilots are trained. In 2022, a Chinese-linked company attempted to build a corn milling plant on farmland near a sensitive Air Force base outside Grand Forks, ND. Treasury later determined that they did not have the proper jurisdiction to take action in this case, which demonstrates the need for this amendment. My amendment would require the Committee on Foreign Investment of the United States, CFIUS, to prohibit China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran from purchasing ag land and ag businesses in the United States and make modest reforms to the CFIUS process to improve our country's ability to protect our national security. I want to thank my friend from Montana, Senator Tester, for his hard work on the amendment and our original bill, the PASS Act.…”