Posted on 07/24/2021 4:22:30 AM PDT by gattaca
APPROVAL OF NEWHOUSE’S AMENDMENT WAS THE LATEST SIGN OF THE INCREASED RIVALRY BETWEEN CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES AS PART OF THE TRADE WAR BETWEEN THE WORLD’S TWO LARGEST ECONOMIES.
China would be barred from buying more U.S. farmland and the land already in its possession would become ineligible for farm subsidies under language approved by the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. On a voice vote, the provision was added to a $197 billion USDA-FDA funding bill headed for a vote on the House floor.
Rep. Dan Newhouse said ownership of nearly 192,000 acres of farmland by Chinese investors was a national security issue. “The current trend in the United States is leading us toward the creation of a Chinese-owned agricultural land monopoly,” said the Republican from Washington State. “There are currently no federal safeguards against the creation of this monopoly.”
Approval of Newhouse’s amendment was the latest sign of the increased rivalry between China and the United States as part of the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Support for Newhouse’s amendment was bipartisan.
New York Rep. Grace Meng, a Democrat, objected to singling out China, saying it might spur attacks on Asian-Americans. Hate crimes against Asian-Americans have surged during the pandemic amid the scapegoating of China as the source of COVID-19.
“Can we honestly say that this amendment, which singles out one country, won’t have repercussions on Asian-Americans across our country?” asked Meng. “Let’s include all of our adversaries.”
“This is about communist China,” said Newhouse. “This is not about calling attention in any negative way to any group of people in this country.”
The prohibition on Chinese purchases of farmland and that land’s eligibility for USDA payments would be a step “to ensure the U.S. food supply chain is secure and independent, especially after all the food interruptions we all experienced during the recent pandemic,” he said.
There are 896.6 million acres, or 1.4 million square miles, of farmland in the United States, according to USDA data.
An Appropriations Committee news release about the USDA-FDA bill is available here.
To watch a video of the Appropriations Committee debate on the bill, click here.
THIS is class warfare rhetoric and why America is in trouble.
Public school has not taught critical thinking skills since the 1950's and what has been passed off as English grammar/vocabulary and reading, is pitifully lacking in the classics and challenging material.
Too many (even here in FR) will automatically concur that Chinese Nationals are Asian Americans.
My wife is Filipino by birth but never refers to herself as Asian, she is however (as she will say) Filipino.
i hear that the price of Hunter’s art just went up.
The link does not work properly.
Try this link.
https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/house-panel-put-the-brakes-on-china-owned-farmland-in-us
The Chinese are not dumb. If they buy it all, they control the food production in the US. Then it doesn’t matter who is in apparant control (Pretender Joe Biden), actual control will be in China.
I’ll take it, but imo applying this to all foreign ownership of our agricultural land would be better. That would shut wasserface up and really, should we be paying subsidies to foreign investors?
Filipino..... or perhaps Filipina
What war? We just sacked General Washington.
To me, the idea of paying any subsidies to foreign investors is totally insane. Any land in the U.S. should be owned by U.S. citizens, period. You just KNOW that our founders would have never allowed any foreign investment in our country & I think any congressman thinking of allowing foreign investment should be asked to immediately resign. How did this ever get started anyway? Excuse me...I should know...is this person or persons still serving in our Congress?
America really does have some of the dumbest damn people in leadership roles in this country. Who sends them there?
For instance, Sheila Jackson Lee elected time after time to represent the largely impoverished 18th district here in Houston. Elected in 1995.
We call her She-Jack. Power hungry political figure that has done next to nothing for her district. Year after year, the areas of Houston she represents sinks deeper and deeper into a crime ridden, poverty stricken abyss.
Yet...she keeps being re-elected. Duh! Just boggles the mind.
How did it happen in the first place is my question. That’s almost 1/4 of our farmland.
My Dad used to say that he didn’t worry too much about China buying up US land and commercial real estate because we could always just nationalize it. Trump is talking that China owes us $3 trillion or so in reparations for covid 19. Would not surprise me if he plans to grab all that land as payment when he returns to office.
The idiots run the good people out of politics, so that good people, who have other options in life, don’t even bother.
China? How about Bill Gates’ American farms?
universal suffrage was our biggest mistake ...
Change the estate tax laws on farmland & the families WILL NOT be forced to sell the land to PAY THE TAXES.
Multiply by about 3.5 and you’re in the ballpark.
Yet there is no penalty for US companies continuing to manufacture in China.
Stating the obvious, under this administration, the China problem will only magnify to the point of being irreparable.
The House will pass it, the Senate will not put it in their version of the bill, and it will not make it through conference. That’s a win-win: those who see this is wrong get to make a big stink, and those who make money off of it continue to make money.
And it’s time to re Americanize our food industry - Swift is owned by Brazil, Smithfield is owned by China...Time to take back our food....
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