Pappas Bill Will Protect Critical American Infrastructure from Foreign Purchase

Today, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) introduced bipartisan legislation to provide greater oversight and protections for critical American infrastructure from foreign interference, including infrastructure related to drinking water. The legislation also strengthens existing federal authority to review, investigate, and block foreign real estate transactions that could jeopardize America’s national security. Congressman Randy Weber (TX-14) and Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (NH-02) co-lead the legislation.

The Critical Infrastructure Security Act expands protections for critical infrastructure and requires the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to annually review, update, and report on facilities and property of the United States government deemed sensitive and subject to CFIUS’s authority to review and investigate certain real estate transactions.

“New Hampshire must remain vigilant in protecting infrastructure from foreign interference by adversaries like China, including properties related to drinking water and national security,” said Congressman Pappas. “The recent international sale of property in New Hampshire underscores the need to provide greater oversight and protections for critical American assets and strengthen our ability to review, investigate, and block foreign real estate transactions that could undermine our safety and security. This is a common-sense, bipartisan step that will help safeguard our infrastructure from those who may wish to do us harm, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and pass it quickly.” 

“Our critical infrastructure facilities deliver the essential services that keep our country open for business,” said Congressman Weber. “Allowing adversaries like China to have free rein over our land, particularly near our critical infrastructure facilities, is a major national security risk. Giving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) the authority to review these purchases counters our adversaries’ plots to weaken our nation and improves our ability to protect our way of life.”

 “Anytime we see a foreign adversary or competitor buy up land near sensitive American facilities — whether it’s farmland or other land near sensitive American facilities — our communities need to know if it poses any threats to our economy or national security,” said Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander, a former intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve for over a decade and a member of the House Armed Services Committee. “That’s why I’m building a bipartisan coalition to tackle these challenges in Congress, and this bipartisan bill is an important piece of the effort.”

Background:

Since taking office, Pappas has led the fight in Congress to stand up to China’s growing aggression, hold it accountable for human rights violations and trafficking deadly fentanyl into the United States, and ensure that Americans can outcompete the world.  

Earlier this year, Pappas helped introduce the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act to crack down on foreign drug trafficking and sanction Chinese suppliers of key fentanyl ingredients; it passed with bipartisan support in the House. Pappas helped craft and fought to pass the CHIPS and Science Act, bipartisan legislation that jump-started American manufacturing of critical semiconductor chips found in everything from microwaves to cars. In 2023, Pappas introduced the STOP CCP Act, which would require financial and visa sanctions on members of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party as a result of the numerous human rights violations, including genocide, that the Chinese Communist Party has committed.

Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander – a former intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve for over a decade, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and a founding member of the National Security Task Force – has been closely monitoring the purchase of a large commercial property in Nashua by a subsidiary of Nongfu Spring, the largest bottled water producer in China, and the potential national security and public safety concerns it raises. Earlier this year, Goodlander sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in his capacity as Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) calling for a retroactive review of this $67 million purchase. Read her full letter here. Last month, she announced her support for a slate of bipartisan bills to protect America’s national security interests when foreign companies or entities seek to purchase critical land in the United States.