Bill’s sponsor says the U.S. cannot give “top adversary a foot in the door.”
Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville introduced a bill to prohibit members of the Chinese Communist Party from purchasing public or private land in the U.S. The bill, co-sponsored by Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas and called the Securing America’s Land from Foreign Interference Act, would also set penalties for foreign purchases that do not comply with federal reporting requirements.
“We cannot continue giving our top adversary a foot in the door to purchase land in the United States and undermine our national security,” Senator Tuberville stated.
The issue of Chinese investments in U.S. agriculture over the last 10 years has become an area of concern for some who feel the purchases might exert influence over U.S. supply chains and become a national security issue.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chinese investor holdings of U.S. agricultural land stood at less than 200,000 acres in 2000. It then rose from 13,720 acres in 2010 to 352,140 acres in 2020. Alabama currently has the third-highest amount of foreign-owned agricultural land in the U.S., at about 1.8 million acres.
The bill would bar international investors or any member of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as any non-U.S. citizen “acting for or on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party,” to purchase real estate in the United States. There has been recent concern over Chinese land purchases near U.S. military installations, such as in North Dakota, due to the possibility of intelligence gathering.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Senators Tuberville and Cotton as they seek to protect U.S. agricultural land from foreign purchase.
- For members of the U.S. Senate as they consider the bill to prevent the foreign acquisition of American land.
- For the president and his administration to seek the Lord’s leading in addressing threats from China.
Sources: The Hill, AL.com
