Washington, D.C.  – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation to strengthen the consideration of national security for foreign investments in the United States.  U.S. Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr., R-Lafayette, hailed the legislation as a long-awaited reform in the wake of the proposed Dubai Ports World transaction.

“The Dubai Ports deal proved that the oversight of foreign investment needed a complete restructuring,” Boustany said.  “I’m pleased that we were able to find a balance between providing transparency to the CFIUS process while also creating and protecting the jobs that foreign investment creates.”

The National Security Foreign Investment Reform and Strengthened Transparency Act of 2007 (H.R. 556), approved unanimously by the House today, strengthens the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) by increasing administration accountability, improving congressional oversight, and creating a process to track and enforce any agreements to mitigate security threats.

H.R. 556 includes the following provisions:

• Requires CFIUS to review any merger, acquisition, or takeover by or with any foreign entity which could result in foreign control of any person engaged in interstate commerce in the United States.

• Requires an investigation to be conducted if a review determines that the transaction threatens to impair the national security of the United States.

• Establishes the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Commerce as Vice Chairpersons of CFIUS.   Additionally, it requires that the Secretaries of Treasury, Homeland Security and Commerce agree on any CFIUS approval and sign the final CFIUS report.

• Requires CFIUS to report to Congress within five days of the completion of any investigation of a transaction, or after the President has taken any action under his authority.

• Requires that the reports must be provided to the Minority and Majority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, and to any House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over any portion of the transaction.