WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today,Representative Mike Collins(R-Ga.)delivered a speechon the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to sound the alarm onChina buying up U.S. agricultural land.
Key Excerpts
"Xi Jinping has clearly statedthat by 2049 he wants China to be the world leader—diplomatically, economically, militarily, even in space."
"China owns $870 billion in U.S. Treasuriesthat finance our debt.And they either own or have a huge portion of the Chicago Stock Exchange, AMC movie theaters, General Electric’s appliance division, General Motors, and Smithfield Foods just to name a few."
"On another alarming note, folks. Chinaowns 384,000 acres of American agricultural land. That's a 30% increase just since 2019.And on top of that, they own land near an air force base in North Dakota. That'sa clear threat to our national securityand that's what the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill is going to address."
Background
According to a2021 reportby the Department of Agriculture,China owns 384,000 acres of American agricultural land; ownership which jumped by 30% from 2019 to 2020.
H.R. 4368, the FY2024 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill:
Supports our rural communities and strengthens our national security and food supply by:
- Continuing critical investments in agriculture research, rural broadband, and animal and plant health programs;
- Providing sufficient funds to ensure the safety of food, drugs, and medical devices;
- Ensuring that low-income Americans have access to nutrition programs;
- Reining in harmful regulations that dictate how poultry and livestock producers raise and market their animals;
- Preventing the purchase of agricultural land by foreign adversaries; and
- Providing a $39 million increase for the Food Safety and Inspection Service to fully fund frontline meat and poultry inspectors.
Reins in wasteful Washington spending and bureaucracy by:
- Redirecting billions in the partisan bills that contained Democrats’ priorities (Inflation Reduction Act) to help America’s producers and rural communities;
- Including a $32 billion decrease in mandatory SNAP spending from FY23 levels due to the end of increased pandemic-era benefits and a decrease in participation rates;
- Restricting the USDA Secretary’s discretionary spending authority on unauthorized, non-emergency programs; and
- Directing USDA to focus hiring efforts in state and county offices to assist producers and rural communities, rather than continuing to bloat the DC bureaucracy.
Cuts to Wasteful Spending:
- Returns WIC benefits provided during COVID to a normal level, with the end of the public health emergency. Benefits will be maintained above pre-pandemic levels to account for food price inflation caused by the Biden economy.
- Rejects President Biden’s proposal for 4,700 new full-time equivalents (FTE) at USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C., saving taxpayers $296 million.
- Saves $1 billion by restricting the discretionary use of the Commodity Credit Corporation.
- Eliminates funding for climate hubs and climate change research.
- Eliminates funding for conservation equity agreements.
###
