McCaul Aims to Get Outbound Investment Bill ‘Across the Finish Line’

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said last week he welcomes a renewed call by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to pass legislation restricting outbound investment in China. McCaul tweeted that he will help Johnson “get these efforts across the finish line.”

In a speech earlier in the week at the New York Stock Exchange, Johnson had said he's looking to reach a “bipartisan solution” by year’s end “to prevent American funds from flowing into firms that support the Chinese military. More and more people now understand that we support the Chinese economy at our own peril.”

While Johnson in July expressed interest in outbound investment legislation (see 2407080046), the House has yet to reach a compromise between lawmakers who favor imposing restrictions on individual entities and those who would rather target whole technology sectors (see 2401180067).

The Senate, meanwhile, is proposing to require U.S. companies to notify the Treasury Department before making certain investments in several “countries of concern,” including China (see 2409230016).