Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) on Friday proposed legislation that would bar foreign adversaries from purchasing American farmland, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.
“If a foreign country prohibits Americans from purchasing land in their country, we should do the same to them. The Chinese Communist Party is one of the biggest offenders. The CCP has no place on our nation’s soil. My Land and National Defense Act is a commonsense solution to keep our adversaries from owning our farmland,” Gill told Breitbart News in a written statement.
Gill proposed the Land and National Defense Act, a bill that imposes the same restrictions on foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land that Americans face when purchasing land in those foreign countries, such as China.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reported that foreigners and entities hold an interest in 45.85 million acres of American agriculture. Current law does not impose any restrictions on the amount of private farmland that can be purchased by foreigners, even those who may be hostile to the country.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins told Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle that the department is exploring a “federal solution” to stopping China from purchasing American farmland.
Boyle wrote:
Rollins told Breitbart News that through her organization — which she led until her nomination as USDA Secretary — America First Policy Institute, she has supported state-level initiatives taken to block China from buying farmland. Several states, like South Dakota and Florida, have outright passed laws barring it. More than two-thirds of states have adopted or were as of mid-last year considering legislative or other measures to do so. Now, Rollins said that the Trump administration is looking at ways to tackle this issue head-on from the federal government.
She explained, “With my experience in the states, I am a huge, huge believer in the laboratories of democracy—the 10th Amendment says our states are the guardians at the gate—and for the last several years my organization America First Policy Institute, we actually worked among multiple states to get states to act on this to pass state legislation but we also are looking at a federal solution too.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
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