Frank Lucas

Mr. LUCAS

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7073) to improve public-private partnerships and increase Federal research, development, and demonstration related to the evolution of next generation pipeline systems, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record on the bill now under consideration.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7073, the Next Generation Pipelines Research and Development Act, which I am proud to cosponsor. The United States pipeline network consists of nearly 2.8 million miles of pipeline, enough to wrap around the world at the equator more than 112 times. Yet, 50 percent of the Nation's pipeline system is more than 60 years old, and the Department of Energy estimates that as many as 96,000 miles of new pipeline will be needed to handle carbon dioxide capture from power plants and directly from the air. As the Representative of Cushing, Oklahoma, the pipeline crossroads of the world, I see firsthand the importance of pipeline infrastructure, not just for our energy security but for economic growth in America. This is infrastructure that must be maintained now and well into the future. A new and modern emphasis on science collaboration, as well as increased industry involvement and public-private demonstration projects, will be required to meet our future energy demands and ensure the continued safety and efficient use of our pipelines. Not only do pipelines carry the oil and natural gas that currently fuel our economy, but they are also critical in transporting the next generation of fuels like hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and methane. H.R. 7073 enables that by invigorating Federal research focused on improving pipeline safety and technology. The bill establishes a demonstration initiative to advance research undertaken by DOE and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. It will also help lab-scale, basic research overcome the ``valley of death'' through commercial development. It also establishes a national pipeline modernization center as a central location for industry and stakeholders to collaborate with Federal agencies on pipeline research and development and enable new cost-effective products and procedures. Simply put, 7073 is necessary for the continued growth of the American energy industry. It will strengthen pipeline infrastructure networks that will be essential to achieving our shared energy, economic, security, and environmental goals. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Washington, DC, September 19, 2024. Hon. Frank D. Lucas, Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Lucas: I write to you concerning H.R. 7073, the Next Generation Pipelines Research and Development Act. The bill was referred primarily to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Specifically, provisions of H.R. 7073 fall within the Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. I recognize and appreciate your desire to bring this legislation before the House of Representatives in an expeditious manner, and accordingly, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will forgo action on the bill. However, this is conditional on our mutual understanding that doing so will not prejudice the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure with respect to the appointment of conferees or to any future jurisdictional claim over the subject matter contained within the bill or similar legislation that falls under the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Rule X jurisdiction. Further, should a conference on the bill be necessary, I appreciate your agreement to support my request to have the Committee represented on the conference committee. Finally, I would ask that a copy of this letter and your response acknowledging our jurisdictional interest in the bill be included in the Committee Report and Congressional Record during consideration of H.R. 7073 on the House floor. Sincerely, Sam Graves, Chairman.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber) to speak on his bill.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I am prepared to close once the gentlewoman from California closes.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank my Science Committee colleagues, Mr. Weber and Ms. Caraveo, for leading this bipartisan effort. I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. LUCAS

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7685) to strengthen and enhance the competitiveness of American industry through the research and development of advanced technologies to improve the efficiency of cement, concrete, and asphalt production, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests, and I simply note this is a good bill. Let's vote for it. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 7685, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. LUCAS

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1430, I call up the bill (H.R. 9456) to amend the Defense Production Act of 1950 with respect to foreign investments in United States agriculture, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 9456, the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024. This important legislation would codify a new set of policies that were enacted under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024. H.R. 9456 would make those measures permanent. I would like to begin by thanking the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse) for offering this legislation. The bill is straightforward. It adds the Secretary of Agriculture as a permanent member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, CFIUS, for any transactions related to the purchase of agricultural land, agricultural biotechnology, or any other transactions related to the U.S. agricultural industry. The bill also provides a mechanism for USDA to notify CFIUS of particularly sensitive agricultural transactions. Then, the interagency process must determine whether a review is appropriate. This legislation guarantees that the Secretary of Agriculture will have a seat at the table. Agriculture Secretary Perdue under the Trump administration and Secretary Vilsack under this administration both agree that having a permanent member of CFIUS is necessary. In fact, during the House Committee on Agriculture hearing earlier this Congress, Secretary Vilsack discussed the implications of a permanent placement of the USDA Secretary on CFIUS, saying: ``Being a permanent member would allow us . . . to educate the other members of CFIUS about what to look for and what to be sensitive to when it comes to agriculture and agricultural production.'' I agree with the Secretary. USDA has the unique expertise that can benefit the other CFIUS members. That is why this bill is so important. This bill is the combination of two pieces of legislation that received unanimous recorded votes as part of a Financial Services Committee markup last fall. My legislation, the inclusion of the Agriculture Secretary as a CFIUS member, and my colleague from Missouri, Blaine Luetkemeyer's legislation, the USDA referral system, both enjoyed unanimous bipartisan support. In addition, slightly modified versions of these measures were enacted in the FY24 appropriations in March. I was pleased to see the policies become the law of the land. H.R. 9456 would permanently authorize them rather than rely on the annual appropriations process. The bill focuses the government's limited resources on foreign adversaries: the People's Republic of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. It is not about closing off the United States from the rest of the world. For decades, Congress and the executive branch have upheld our country's commitment to an open investment climate. Foreign investment in the United States creates millions of jobs while boosting U.S. exports and expanding R&D budgets. This legislation is consistent with our core American values and consistent with the unanimous bipartisan legislation passed in the Financial Services Committee. Since the 1970s, USDA has been responsible for the collection of foreign ownership in U.S. agricultural land. This piece of legislation, as with the bipartisan committee-passed version and the provision currently in law as appropriations language, empowers USDA to flag foreign persons and entities for CFIUS to consider. To object to this legislation is to object to current law, existing practices, and bipartisan consensus. CFIUS' mandate remains clear. It must stay focused on national security issues, whether in agriculture or any other sector. I am hopeful this bill will soon find its way to the President's desk so that the growing cooperation between CFIUS and USDA can continue, allowing CFIUS to take advantage of the subject matter expertise housed at the Department of Agriculture. Food and agricultural security is a critical component of our national security, and this legislation recognizes that. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse), who not only understands the security issues because of his involvement as a United States Congressman for the State of Washington, but he is also a farmer from the State of Washington. He understands the impact these issues have on farms and ranches across the country.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 9456 is comprised of two bills that were both marked up and unanimously reported from the Financial Services Committee. The administration did not send any technical assistance when both bills were marked up in the committee a full year ago. They did not send TA until 2 days before this bill went to Rules. The edits were very technical in nature and open to interpretation. I repeat again: Both of the underlying bills were marked up and unanimously reported from the committee in September of 2023. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle voted for the language in committee, and the Treasury gave no responses at the time. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my colleague from Nebraska (Mr. Flood).

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The Agriculture Foreign Investments Disclosure Act of 1978 already requires that all foreign persons and legal entities acquiring or transferring an interest in U.S. agricultural property submit a report to USDA containing the information on the transaction of the parties involved. That is present law. CFIUS can already use this data when considering potential national security risks in determining whether a transaction is covered by its jurisdiction. This bill does not change that jurisdiction. What this bill does is formally establish a referral system between USDA's current monitoring of land purchases and CFIUS in order to target our adversaries and avoid unnecessary bureaucracy. The bill singles out purchases involving the People's Republic of China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. It is the governments of these nonfree societies that are our threats, and it is their manipulation of their people that are the threats we try to address. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Self).

Mr. LUCAS. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Baird), one of my fellow farmers, who understands these issues from the tractor seat and the field.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, before I yield to the gentlewoman from Iowa, I will simply note that like all legislative processes with the signature of the President on this piece of legislation, it will supersede the appropriated law. It will be straightforward. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Hinson)

Mr. LUCAS. Madam Speaker, before I yield to my colleague from Michigan, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, this is a process that combines two good pieces of legislation. This is a process that takes what we successfully did in appropriations, which means an annual process of renewal, and it makes it permanent law. This is an acknowledgement that Congress recognizes the importance of making this statute permanent, not just a part of annual funding language. It is hard for me to imagine why we wouldn't support this. It is just difficult to imagine. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Moolenaar).

Mr. LUCAS. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Indiana.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I would note, as I conclude with my comments and yield back also, there have been many occasions when the good lady, the ranking member of the full committee, and I have battled over issues, and there have been occasions when we have been in the same trenches, fighting in the same direction on policy. I would say that she is always a very worthwhile adversary and just a pretty viciously effective ally on those rare occasions, but today, we disagree. We disagree. I believe Americans have long recognized that a resilient food supply is essential to national security, which is why the rise of foreign investments in our Nation's farmlands deserves increased scrutiny. We have seen our geopolitical adversaries, China in particular, are eager to exploit vulnerabilities in critical supply chains. Investment from China poses a unique risk to the American economy, and the Chinese Communist Party exercises immense control and influence over Chinese- owned companies operating abroad. This bill recognizes that a national security framework that excludes agriculture is incomplete. In my own State of Oklahoma, foreign land ownership has been against the law for decades and decades, but my State officials tell me that with the web of LLCs and trusts and a variety of other legal mechanisms, they have a difficult time in enforcing that. This piece of legislation today is one of many pieces of the puzzle to bring this to a focus. If you care about the security of this great Nation and if you care about building on actions that we have taken in this Congress before, then I urge you to vote for this bill. Make permanent law what is now an annual appropriation-type process. I think it is the right thing to do. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. LUCAS

Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here today to support H.R. 7686, which helps strengthen our research security. Research theft is one of the single greatest threats to our competitiveness as a nation. It takes our hard-won innovation and puts it to work for our adversaries, hurting our economy and our national security. This is no idle threat either. The Chinese Communist Party has made it clear that they intend to surpass us as the global leader in science and technology, and they have no qualms about using intellectual property theft, forced technology acquisition, and other illicit means to do so. The CCP uses our intellectual property to advance their own research and keep them at the leading edge of new technologies. After acquiring our research, they use subsidies and regulations that benefit Chinese companies, making it difficult for U.S. companies to compete globally. According to some estimates, this is costing our economy between $200 billion and $600 billion a year. The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has been proactive in our response to this threat and has passed multiple bills to protect American research. When we passed the CHIPS and Science Act in 2022, we included a number of provisions to halt the theft of U.S. innovation. We prohibited Federal funding for any school that hosts Confucius Institutes, which are designed to spread CCP propaganda to students and researchers. We gave universities better tools to protect sensitive research from cyber theft. We created a dedicated office on research security at the National Science Foundation to help detect and combat foreign influence and theft. We banned participation in malign foreign talent programs. These programs recruit researchers and provide funding, travel, and other benefits in exchange for access to research and intellectual property. We prohibited all Federal agency personnel and any researcher receiving Federal funding from participating in these talent programs. As the government, labs, and universities began to implement this prohibition, it became clear that our definition of malign foreign talent programs needed to be updated. H.R. 7686 provides a clear, comprehensive definition that ensures that we are covering efforts by foreign countries of concern like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. This clarification will make it easier for universities and Federal research agencies to identify and address threats to our taxpayer- funded research. I thank Representative Garcia for his work on this important bill. Research theft is a broad threat that is difficult to extinguish, and it is challenging to protect our research while still maintaining helpful international scientific collaboration. I appreciate Representative Garcia's efforts to walk that line and improve our tools to stop research theft. I encourage all of my colleagues to support this important bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.