Lawmakers Eye More Oversight of CFIUS

House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Reps. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, and Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., introduced a bill June 7 that would require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to notify Congress if CFIUS denied a member agency’s request to review a transaction.

“Under current law, no justification is given to Congress if a transaction is initially flagged by a CFIUS official as a threat to national security and then ultimately not reviewed,” Moolenaar’s office said in a news release. The “legislation would require the committee to notify Congress in such a case and provide reasoning why the transaction was not reviewed.”

Huizenga said such increased congressional oversight is needed because China and other foreign adversaries are seeking to “expand their footprint in America.”

The proposed Foreign Investment Transparency and Accountability Act was referred to the Energy and Commerce, Financial Services and Foreign Affairs committees.

The bill was unveiled less than three months after President Joe Biden signed into law legislation that adds the agriculture secretary to CFIUS to review agricultural transactions (see 2403110058). The addition reflects congressional concern that adversaries are buying U.S. farmland near sensitive military sites to conduct spying (see 2303010036), and that such purchases could jeopardize the U.S. food supply (see 2302070025).