Blackburn Targets Foreign Influence in Trio of Bills

Senator Blackburn is introducing a trio of bills she says target national security risks posed by foreign adversaries.The Tennessee Republican says she wants to close backdoor influence channels and protect American land and institutions from “exploitation.”“The United States cannot allow foreign adversaries like Communist China to quietly embed themselves in our communities and near our critical infrastructure,” Senator Blackburn said in an interview with Real Clear Politics.“From Sister City agreements that legitimize hostile regimes, to opaque real estate purchases that demand greater transparency, to buying up farmland near our military bases, we have a responsibility to identify and address these threats.”Other countries targeted by the legislation include North Korea, Iran, and Russia.Concerns addressed in the legislation include national security risks stemming from “opaque foreign real estate investments” and their impact on access to housing for American citizens, according to the senator’s website.The suite of bills would use legislation to codify executive actions taken by President Trump to protect America’s national security interests in the United States from China and other adversarial governments.The Foreign Property Ownership Transparency Act would require a study of the impact of foreign purchases of residential real estate in the country and an assessment of their impact on affordability.The findings could be used by Congress to develop legislative or regulatory actions to block some foreign ownership.Another of the bills addresses concerns over Chinese ownership of United States farmland. China reportedly owns 370,000 acres of farmland, including some near important military installations.The Prohibition of Agricultural Land for Foreign Adversaries Act would prohibit “nonresident aliens, foreign businesses, and agents, trustees, or fiduciaries associated with an adversarial country” from purchasing agricultural land in the United States. It would also prohibit anyone connected to a targeted country from taking advantage of Agriculture Department programs.The third bill would block Washington, D.C., from signing sister city agreements with localities in any country deemed to be a foreign adversary. Ms. Blackburn says such relationships may provide adversarial regimes with diplomatic legitimacy, opportunities for influence operations, and access to sensitive institutions through tourism and investment.Sister city agreements are formal relationships established by the leaders of cities in different countries to promote cultural and economic ties. They are common across America and usually involve group tours between the two municipalities.Ms. Blackburn says Washington, D.C., has 15 signed agreements including one with Beijing. The bill would require it to be terminated within 180 days.The city first entered an agreement with Beijing in the 1980s but the city’s office of the secretary website currently has only 14 cities on its list of sister cities, none of them in China.

Blackburn Targets Foreign Influence in Trio of Bills

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