I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 683
To amend the Defense Production Act of 1950 to include the Secretary
of Agriculture on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United
States and require review of certain agricultural transactions, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY31, 2023
Ms. S
TEFANIK(for herself, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. COSTA, Mr. FITZPATRICK,
Mr. J
OHNSONof Louisiana, Mr. VALADAO, Mr. AUSTINSCOTTof Geor-
gia, Mrs. M
ILLER-MEEKS, Mr. MOOREof Alabama, Mr. RUTHERFORD,
Mr. B
AIRD, Mr. JOHNSONof South Dakota, Mr. MOLINARO, Mr.
N
EWHOUSE, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. MILLERof Ohio, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr.
L
AMALFA, Mr. COLE, and Ms. TENNEY) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addi-
tion to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, and Energy and Commerce,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Defense Production Act of 1950 to include
the Secretary of Agriculture on the Committee on For-
eign Investment in the United States and require review
of certain agricultural transactions, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Agriculture 2
Safeguards and Security Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘PASS Act 3
of 2023’’. 4
SEC. 2. REVIEW OF AGRICULTURE-RELATED TRANS-5
ACTIONS BY CFIUS. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 721 of the Defense Pro-7
duction Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4565) is amended— 8
(1) in subsection (a)— 9
(A) in paragraph (4)— 10
(i) in subparagraph (A)— 11
(I) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘; 12
and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 13
(II) in clause (ii), by striking the 14
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 15
and’’; and 16
(III) by adding at the end the 17
following: 18
‘‘(iii) any transaction described in 19
clause (vi) or (vii) of subparagraph (B) 20
proposed or pending on or after the date of 21
the enactment of this clause.’’; 22
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by adding at 23
the end the following: 24
‘‘(vi) Any other investment, subject to 25
regulations prescribed under subpara-26
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graphs (D) and (E), by a foreign person in 1
any unaffiliated United States business 2
that is engaged in agriculture or bio-3
technology related to agriculture. 4
‘‘(vii) Subject to subparagraphs (C) 5
and (E), the purchase or lease by, or a 6
concession to, a foreign person of private 7
real estate that is— 8
‘‘(I) located in the United States; 9
and 10
‘‘(II) used in agriculture.’’; 11
(iii) in subparagraph (C)(i), by strik-12
ing ‘‘subparagraph (B)(ii)’’ and inserting 13
‘‘clause (ii) or (vii) of subparagraph (B)’’; 14
(iv) in subparagraph (D)— 15
(I) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘sub-16
paragraph (B)(iii)’’ and inserting 17
‘‘clauses (iii) and (vi) of subparagraph 18
(B)’’; 19
(II) in clause (iii)(I), by striking 20
‘‘subparagraph (B)(iii)’’ and inserting 21
‘‘clauses (iii) and (vi) of subparagraph 22
(B)’’; 23
(III) in clause (iv)(I), by striking 24
‘‘subparagraph (B)(iii)’’ each place it 25
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appears and inserting ‘‘clauses (iii) 1
and (vi) of subparagraph (B)’’; and 2
(IV) in clause (v), by striking 3
‘‘subparagraph (B)(iii)’’ and inserting 4
‘‘clauses (iii) and (vi) of subparagraph 5
(B)’’; and 6
(v) in subparagraph (E), by striking 7
‘‘clauses (ii) and (iii)’’ and inserting 8
‘‘clauses (ii), (iii), (iv), and (vii)’’; and 9
(B) by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(14) A
GRICULTURE.—The term ‘agriculture’ 11
has the meaning given such term in section 3 of the 12
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 13
203).’’; 14
(2) in subsection (k)(2)— 15
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (H), 16
(I), and (J), as subparagraphs (I), (J), and 17
(K), respectively; and 18
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (G) 19
the following new subparagraph: 20
‘‘(H) The Secretary of Agriculture.’’; and 21
(3) by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘(r) P
ROHIBITIONWITHRESPECT TO AGRICUL-23
TURALCOMPANIES ANDREALESTATE.— 24
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 1
provision of this section, if the Committee, in con-2
ducting a review and investigation under this sec-3
tion, determines that a transaction described in 4
clause (i), (vi), or (vii) of subsection (a)(4)(B) would 5
result in control by a covered foreign person of or 6
investment by a covered foreign person in a United 7
States business engaged in agriculture or private 8
real estate used in agriculture, the President shall 9
prohibit such transaction. 10
‘‘(2) W
AIVER.—The President may waive, on a 11
case-by-case basis, the requirement to prohibit a 12
transaction under paragraph (1), not less than 30 13
days after the President determines and reports to 14
the relevant committees of jurisdiction that it is vital 15
to the national security interests of the United 16
States to waive such prohibition. 17
‘‘(3) D
EFINED TERMS.—In this subsection: 18
‘‘(A) C
OVERED FOREIGN PERSON .—The 19
term ‘covered foreign person’ means a person 20
that is— 21
‘‘(i) acting on behalf of or otherwise 22
directed by the government of a prohibited 23
country; 24
‘‘(ii) a citizen of a prohibited country; 25
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‘‘(iii) an entity that— 1
‘‘(I) is registered or organized in 2
a prohibited country; or 3
‘‘(II) has a principal place of 4
business in a prohibited country; or 5
‘‘(iv) a subsidiary of an entity de-6
scribed in clause (iii). 7
‘‘(B) P
ROHIBITED COUNTRY .—The term 8
‘prohibited country’ means any of the following: 9
‘‘(i) The People’s Republic of China. 10
‘‘(ii) The Russian Federation. 11
‘‘(iii) The Islamic Republic of Iran. 12
‘‘(iv) The Democratic People’s Repub-13
lic of Korea.’’. 14
(b) R
EPORTREQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 15
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 16
days thereafter, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit 17
to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep-18
resentatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 19
and Forestry of the Senate a report on the risks that for-20
eign purchases of United States businesses engaged in ag-21
riculture (as such term is defined in section 3 of the Fair 22
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203)) pose to 23
the agricultural sector of the United States. 24
Æ
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