U.S. Congressman: If China respects life and freedom, it will win the respect of the American people

MP PITANGER: All right. We did not specifically identify China in the bill. The purpose of the bill is to respond to the huge increase in foreign investment. When the bill establishing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States was passed in the mid-1970s, under President Ford at the time, foreign investment in the U.S. was few and far between, and now the amount of foreign investment in the U.S. has grown substantially, including Chinese investment in the U.S. For example, Chinese investment in the United States has grown from $4 billion a year in 2000 to $46 billion now, so the growth rate is quite large. But we don't have the resources, infrastructure, and manpower to oversee investments of this magnitude right now, which is why we must expand the authority of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to allow them to review these investments.