Two senior farm-state senators filed legislation to make USDA a permanent member of the high-powered federal panel that decides whether foreign investment in the United States would impair national security interests. The legislation sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the senior Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, would require the panel to consider the impact of a proposed foreign investment on U.S. food and agricultural systems.
Stabenow has argued since 2013 for including USDA on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. At that time, Smithfield Foods was purchased for $7.1 billion by a Chinese company, Shuanghui International Holdings. At present, CFIUS decides on a case by case basis if USDA expertise is needed during its reviews. Grassley has repeatedly called for regulators to consider the agricultural impact of corporate mergers and purchases, such as the wave of consolidation reshaping the seed and agricultural chemical sector.
The Grassley-Stabenow bill would give permanent membership to USDA and to the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes FDA. The senators said their bill would send a powerful signal to potential foreign purchasers by including food safety, quality and availability a point of national security.