Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, The Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006

EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT FOR DEFENSE, THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR, AND HURRICANE RECOVERY, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - March 15, 2006)

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Mr. SABO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I am disappointed that the Rules Committee has not allowed me to offer my amendment to strengthen the CFIUS foreign investment review process to this bill.

Americans deserve a rigorous review of foreign investments that could affect our national security. We all know now that the Bush administration was sleepwalking through the review of the Dubai Ports World transaction to acquire shipping terminals at six major U.S. ports.

We should fix the process. Never again should we find that the President and the Secretaries of Homeland Security, Treasury and Defense are unaware of a foreign takeover of a critical U.S. asset until after it is approved.

The bill kills the Dubai Ports World deal. It does not, however, deal with the larger problem of an inadequate foreign investment review process. An amendment I offered in committee would have fixed the problem for the future.

My amendment would strengthen the CFIUS process in the following ways: all transactions that result in foreign control of any person engaged in interstate commerce would be required to undergo a full review to determine whether it affects U.S. national security.

Today, foreign firms voluntarily, let me say that again, voluntarily notify us of these transactions. I believe notification must be mandatory to ensure that our government knows about all such transactions.

My amendment would also retain the Secretary of the Treasury as the chairperson of the committee.

Under my amendment, the President would be required to approve or disapprove all transactions. Today, if the President takes no action, the transaction is automatically approved.

My amendment would extend the CFIUS review period to the full 75 days. Current practice allows most transactions to be reviewed within 30 days, with an additional 45 days of review only if flags are raised.

The amendment would also require the Congress to be notified of Presidential decisions. Furthermore, Congress could overturn approvals within 30 days by a joint resolution. Today, Congress is notified of a CFIUS transaction only when the President disapproves one, and we discover about approvals, like we did in the most recent case, through the press.

Under my amendment, the administration would also be required to report to Congress on foreign ownership of all U.S. critical infrastructure within 90 days of enactment of this bill. Today, no one really knows how much of our critical infrastructure is in the hands of foreign companies and foreign governments.

If we fail to fix the deep flaws in the CFIUS process, our Nation will be vulnerable in the future. We should not take that chance. We should act now to strengthen the foreign investment review process.

I would hope the gentleman from California, the distinguished chairman, would not insist on his point of order so the House may have a vote on this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey).

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