Senator Grassley. (photo from Grassley Twitter feed)
For more than 20 years, foreign nationals and non-American-owned companies have been able to borrow money from the federal government to buy farmland here in the U.S., and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says that needs to stop.
“I will be introducing the Farm Credit for Americans Act later today,” Grassley says, “which will make foreign individuals and entities ineligible for financing through the Farm Credit System.” Grassley says the practice of allowing people who aren’t permanent residents of the U.S., or foreign-owned companies, to borrow federal tax dollars to buy farmland poses a potential threat to the domestic food supply and a threat to national security.
“The expansion of foreign-owned farmland is a justified cause for concern among many family farmers and ranchers,” Grassley says. “At my town meetings, I often hear people raise questions about why we’re letting the Chinese buy farmland in the United States.”
Grassley says Congress needs to make sure the farm credit system is only supporting American farmers and ranchers, and not subsidizing foreign investors.
On another topic, there’s an impasse over energy policy in Congress, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says it won’t be anything serious enough to prevent the passage of a continuing resolution to keep the federal government running.
Grassley says he’s confident there will not be a government shutdown at week’s end. “Yes, it can be avoided,” Grassley says. “I don’t see how the Manchin amendment is a factor. If it passes, keeping the Continuing Resolution from passing, or if it’s defeated, the C.R. will still pass. That’s what I see today.”
The federal fiscal year ends Friday, and the continuing resolution would fund the government through mid-December. The bill from Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, would speed up a series of energy projects and mandate that federal environmental reviews be done much more frequently.