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The
legislation would broaden the government's power to stop foreign
purchases of U.S. firms by strengthening the Committee on
Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
The bills "would achieve the twin aims of protecting national
security and preserving the longstanding United States open
investment policy," the White House said.
The bills, introduced in November by Republican Senator John
Cornyn and Republican Representative Robert Pittenger, have
Republican and Democratic co-sponsors. The Senate Banking
Committee will hold a hearing on the topic on Thursday.
The legislation would expand CFIUS' reach to allow it to review,
and potentially reject, smaller investments and add new national
security factors for CFIUS to consider. Those factors include
whether information about Americans, such as Social Security
numbers, would be exposed as part of the transaction or whether
the deal would facilitate fraud.
CFIUS already has a reputation for being tough on high-tech
deals involving China in particular and has blocked transactions
that involve sophisticated semiconductors.
It has become more cautious since President Donald Trump was
inaugurated a year ago amid growing political and economic
tensions between the United States and China.
The panel has balked at approving a broader range of deals from
China since the inauguration, according to lawyers who
specialize in representing proposed transactions to the board.
(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Paul Tait)
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