Sen. Katie Britt is continuing her efforts to fight against what she is calling “the Chinese Communist Party’s growing aggression.”
During Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Britt (R-Montgomery) discussed the party’s encroachment upon American farmland and questioned Clay Lowery, the former assistant secretary of International Affairs in the Treasury Department.
“Before we start talking about sanctions, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States,” Britt said. “In 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture noted that foreign investors held 40 million acres of our farmland. This has occurred, since 2015, at a tune of about 2.2 million acres a year.
“I have heard from Alabamians as I travel across our state, and this is a concern for them – specifically, the Chinese Communist Party and their willingness and their efforts and their deliberate and intentional attempts to buy up fertile U.S. farmland. I believe food security is national security. Food security is economic security. I believe that one acre of American farmland owned by the Chinese Communist Party is one acre too many.”
Britt said she is concerned about China buying farmland near military installations.
“It is completely and totally unacceptable,” she said.
To Lowery, she asked: “When it comes to ensuring we have a strong agriculture voice at the table when these decisions are being made, do you agree that it’s reasonable the Secretary of Agriculture should be involved as a member of CFIUS?”
Lowery agreed.
“I think it is totally reasonable,” he said.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
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