House Hearing Builds Momentum for CFIUS Reform

House members on Thursday began digging into the details of a bill to reform the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States by increasing scrutiny of business deals that transfer valuable technology to countries like China that may pose a national security threat.

“This is a problem that every part of the U.S. government will have to work together to address," Rep. Denny Heck said during a hearing of the House Financial Services Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee. "There are some aspects of this problem that can only be addressed through legislative action to close gaps in existing CFIUS authority." Subcommittee Chairman Andy Barr praised the legislation and said he expected more hearings on it in early 2018.

The bill, identified as H.R. 4311 (115) in the House and S. 2098 (115) in the Senate, would expand CFIUS's jurisdiction to include some joint ventures, minority-position investments and real estate transactions located near military bases or other sensitive national security institutions. It would also expand the definition of "critical technologies" to include emerging technologies. For more details on the hearing, read the story from POLITICO’s Mary Lee here.