Ricketts, Fetterman warns
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EXCLUSIVE: The Republican senator Pete Ricketts carries the accusation with Democratic Senator John Fetterman to codify the surveillance of foreign countries buying American agricultural land.
The bipartisan Disclosure of foreign agricultural investment (Afida) The Act on Improvements seeks to implement recommendations published by The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in January 2024, which noted that Afida was poorly equipped to combat foreign ownership of American agricultural land.
“Communist China is our greatest geopolitical threat,” said Ricketts to Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview, adding: “It is a way for us to improve the disclosure that takes place with regard to the purchase of this agricultural land, so that we can take other measures if necessary to ensure that we do not give communist China the possibility of buying agricultural land.”
The bill proposal intervenes as two Chinese nationals – one Michigan University The post-doctoral researcher, Yunqing Jian, and the student of the University of Science and Technology of Huazhong, Chengxuan Han-were detained in federal detention after being accused of smuggling of biological equipment in the United States.
Sense. Fetterman, on the left, and ricketts co-published bipartite legislation to protect American agricultural land. (AP / Getty)
The suspects were accused of “reluctant a fungus which was described as” potential Weapon of agro -terrorism “ Into the Heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a laboratory from the University of Michigan to continue their program, “the interm lawyer said for the Oriental District of Michigan Jerome in a statement.
The fungus causes a “head burn”, described as a disease of wheat, corn, rice and barley, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses in the world each year, according to the Ministry of Justice. If it is ingested by humans, the substance can cause vomiting, liver damage and “reproductive defects in humans and livestock”.
Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Security, Tricia McLaughlin, told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration has focused on “keeping our homeland” thanks to improved border projections.
“The protection of the food supply and national security of America remains an absolute priority. The attempted smuggling last week by Chinese nationals of Fusarium Graminearum, a dangerous fungus of cultures, placing a threat of significant bioterrorism, only highlights this imperative to fight against this threat,” said McLaughlin.
“This could potentially be very damaging to agriculture,” Ricketts told Fox News Digital. “We also know that Chinese nationals have tried to steal our biotechnology with regard to agriculture. They also crushed basic doors. A supposed Chinese tourists have piloted drones around the bases. Of course, the Chinese stole a surveillance ball in our country when the Bide administration has let this happen.”
Ricketts said that China bought American agriculture aggressively, “that is why we have to have an increased feeling of vigilance to protect our homeland.”
The main entrance to the Grand Forks air base near Grand Forks, Dakota du Nord, on May 18, 2023. (Ben Brewer / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Foreign investors have more than 40 million acres of agricultural land in the United States, and between 2010 and 2021, Chinese ownership of American agricultural land increased from 13,720 acres to 383,935 acres, According to the American Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“This is not only the number of acres they have, but the fact that they have it around Grand Forks Air Force Base in Northern Dakota or Fort Liberty in North Carolina. They buy it around sensitive military installations,” said Ricketts.
The bill, also co -sponsored by Sens. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, John Cornyn of Texas, Roger Wicker of Mississippi and the representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, requires Afida reports for foreign people with more than 1% interest in American agricultural land.
The AFIDA improvement Act aims to increase information sharing between the foreign investment committee in the United States and the USDA. It also requires updates to the AFIDA manual and establishes a deadline for the USDA in order to create an online AFIDA system.
An aerial view of agricultural land in the Central California valley. (istock)
Based on the GAO recommendations, the bill aims to update the law on the disclosure of agricultural foreign investment in 1978 to better equip the USDA to combat the ownership of foreign opponents of American agricultural land.
“We are the most dangerous in our history at the moment since the Second World War,” said Ricketts. “We have to invest in our soldiers. We have to support our friends around the world who postpone these dictators. Communist China is one of them.”
In addition, the bill comes as the conflict in the Middle East reaches a boiling point between Iran and Israel, the concerns reviving national security. Israel has successfully coordinated attacks against Iran from inside the country, and Ricketts underlined the success of Ukraine in the targeting of a Russian air base.
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“What Ukraine was able to do against Russia with their operation which destroyed some of their strategic bombers, and they have placed trucks with drones near an air base and made these drones attack. They could be vulnerable to the same thing if China was doing here.
Ricketts has added that American agricultural land should not be a “tool that our opponents, like Communist China, can use to attack us from our own country”.
There has been little movement on the bill since it was recently introduced. This is largely because the Senate republicans focus closely on the advancement of “Big and Beautiful Bill” by Trump before a self-imposed deadline of July 4.
Julia Bonavita from Fox News Digital and Alex Miller contributed to this report.
