II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 168
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY31, 2023
Mr. R
OUNDS(for himself, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. TESTER, Mr. CRAMER, Ms. LUM-
MIS, and Mr. THUNE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice
and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Agriculture 4
Safeguards and Security Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘PASS Act 5
of 2023’’. 6
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SEC. 2. REVIEW OF AGRICULTURE-RELATED TRANS-1
ACTIONS BY CFIUS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 721 of the Defense Pro-3
duction Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4565) is amended— 4
(1) in subsection (a)— 5
(A) in paragraph (4)— 6
(i) in subparagraph (A)— 7
(I) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘; 8
and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 9
(II) in clause (ii), by striking the 10
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 11
and’’; and 12
(III) by adding at the end the 13
following: 14
‘‘(iii) any transaction described in 15
clause (vi) or (vii) of subparagraph (B) 16
proposed or pending on or after the date of 17
the enactment of this clause.’’; 18
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by adding at 19
the end the following: 20
‘‘(vi) Any other investment, subject to 21
regulations prescribed under subpara-22
graphs (D) and (E), by a foreign person in 23
any unaffiliated United States business 24
that is engaged in agriculture or bio-25
technology related to agriculture. 26
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‘‘(vii) Subject to subparagraphs (C) 1
and (E), the purchase or lease by, or a 2
concession to, a foreign person of private 3
real estate that is— 4
‘‘(I) located in the United States; 5
and 6
‘‘(II) used in agriculture.’’; 7
(iii) in subparagraph (C)(i), by strik-8
ing ‘‘subparagraph (B)(ii)’’ and inserting 9
‘‘clause (ii) or (vii) of subparagraph (B)’’; 10
(iv) in subparagraph (D)— 11
(I) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘sub-12
paragraph (B)(iii)’’ and inserting 13
‘‘clauses (iii) and (vi) of subparagraph 14
(B)’’; 15
(II) in clause (iii)(I), by striking 16
‘‘subparagraph (B)(iii)’’ and inserting 17
‘‘clauses (iii) and (vi) of subparagraph 18
(B)’’; 19
(III) in clause (iv)(I), by striking 20
‘‘subparagraph (B)(iii)’’ each place it 21
appears and inserting ‘‘clauses (iii) 22
and (vi) of subparagraph (B)’’; and 23
(IV) in clause (v), by striking 24
‘‘subparagraph (B)(iii)’’ and inserting 25
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‘‘clauses (iii) and (vi) of subparagraph 1
(B)’’; and 2
(v) in subparagraph (E), by striking 3
‘‘clauses (ii) and (iii)’’ and inserting 4
‘‘clauses (ii), (iii), (iv), and (vii)’’; and 5
(B) by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(14) A
GRICULTURE.—The term ‘agriculture’ 7
has the meaning given such term in section 3 of the 8
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 9
203).’’; 10
(2) in subsection (k)(2)— 11
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (H), 12
(I), and (J), as subparagraphs (I), (J), and 13
(K), respectively; and 14
(B) inserting after subparagraph (G) the 15
following new subparagraph: 16
‘‘(H) The Secretary of Agriculture.’’; and 17
(3) by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(r) P
ROHIBITIONWITHRESPECT TO AGRICUL-19
TURALCOMPANIES ANDREALESTATE.— 20
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 21
provision of this section, if the Committee, in con-22
ducting a review and investigation under this sec-23
tion, determines that a transaction described in 24
clause (i), (vi), or (vii) of subsection (a)(4)(B) would 25
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result in control by a covered foreign person of or 1
investment by a covered foreign person in a United 2
States business engaged in agriculture or private 3
real estate used in agriculture, the President shall 4
prohibit such transaction. 5
‘‘(2) W
AIVER.—The President may waive, on a 6
case-by-case basis, the requirement to prohibit a 7
transaction under paragraph (1), not less than 30 8
days after the President determines and reports to 9
the relevant committees of jurisdiction that it is vital 10
to the national security interests of the United 11
States to waive such prohibition. 12
‘‘(3) D
EFINED TERMS.—In this subsection: 13
‘‘(A) C
OVERED FOREIGN PERSON .—The 14
term ‘covered foreign person’ means a person 15
that is— 16
‘‘(i) acting on behalf of or otherwise 17
directed by the government of a prohibited 18
country; 19
‘‘(ii) a citizen of a prohibited country; 20
‘‘(iii) an entity that— 21
‘‘(I) is registered or organized in 22
a prohibited country; or 23
‘‘(II) has a principal place of 24
business in a prohibited country; or 25
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‘‘(iv) a subsidiary of an entity de-1
scribed in clause (iii). 2
‘‘(B) P
ROHIBITED COUNTRY .—The term 3
‘prohibited country’ means any of the following: 4
‘‘(i) The People’s Republic of China. 5
‘‘(ii) The Russian Federation. 6
‘‘(iii) The Islamic Republic of Iran. 7
‘‘(iv) The Democratic People’s Repub-8
lic of Korea.’’. 9
(b) R
EPORTREQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 10
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 11
days thereafter, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit 12
to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep-13
resentatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 14
and Forestry of the Senate a report on the risks that for-15
eign purchases of United States businesses engaged in ag-16
riculture (as such term is defined in section 3 of the Fair 17
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203)) pose to 18
the agricultural sector of the United States. 19
Æ
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