Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-04) has issued a statement on the House of Representatives' passage of the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act. Newhouse introduced the bill earlier this month.

"Today, the United States took a stand against one of our greatest foreign adversaries, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)," Newhouse said in his statement. "The CCP has been quietly purchasing American agricultural land at an alarming rate, and this bill is a crucial step towards reversing that trend."

According to the press release, the legislation would add the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) for transactions involving land, biotechnology, transportation, storage, and processing. The bill would also require the secretary to report any transaction that can be considered a threat to national security.

Newhouse pointed out that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's foreign purchase tracking is "wildly flawed." He said, "By adding the Secretary of Agriculture to CFIUS, we can begin to correct course. Food security is national security, and it is incumbent upon us to keep our adversaries far away from the lands that feed our country and the world."

House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed gratitude for Newhouse's efforts. "I'm thankful for Rep. Newhouse's leadership in protecting our agriculture from China and its proxies," Johnson was quoted as saying in the press release. "Agriculture is the backbone of America, and we should take every possible measure necessary to protect it."