Congress tightens foreign-adversary grip on U.S. farmland near military bases
S. 903 — PASS Act · Filed by Mike Rounds (R-SD) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 6, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Defense Production Act to give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) new power to review and block foreign acquisitions of agricultural land and agricultural businesses near U.S. military installations or sensitive government facilities. It specifically targets foreign persons acting on behalf of four named adversary countries—China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—and requires the Secretary of Agriculture to notify CFIUS of reportable agricultural land transactions within 30 days. The President may prohibit such transactions unless the foreign buyer voluntarily abandons the deal, with a national-interest waiver available on a case-by-case basis.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to expand CFIUS authority to screen and block foreign acquisitions of agricultural land and agribusiness near military installations by state-directed actors from adversary nations. It is a national-security measure, not a trade or economic policy.
What the text implies
- The bill defines 'covered foreign person' to include any foreign entity acting 'at the direction or control of' an adversary government, which may capture private companies with indirect state ties or joint ventures, potentially broadening the scope beyond direct state ownership.
- The 'close proximity' standard for agricultural land near military installations is delegated to CFIUS regulations, creating regulatory discretion that could expand or contract the geographic scope of blocked transactions without further congressional action.
- The bill applies retroactively to transactions 'proposed, pending, or completed' after the effective date, potentially allowing CFIUS to unwind or challenge deals already in progress or closed, creating legal uncertainty for existing foreign agricultural investors.
- The Secretary of Agriculture's obligation to report 'reportable agricultural land transactions' to CFIUS may capture routine foreign investment in agricultural land that poses no security risk, creating administrative burden and potential chilling effects on legitimate foreign agricultural investment.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill restricts foreign adversaries' ability to acquire sensitive agricultural land near military installations, protecting national security and domestic food-system resilience without imposing new costs on ordinary citizens or restricting their rights. The mechanism is transparent, narrowly targeted at state-directed actors from named adversary nations, and includes a presidential waiver for genuine national-interest cases.
Who stands to gain
- U.S. agricultural landowners (protected from foreign acquisition pressure)
- U.S. agribusiness companies (reduced foreign acquisition risk)
- Defense contractors and military-adjacent industries (enhanced security perimeter protection)
Named in the bill
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), Secretary of Agriculture, Defense Production Act of 1950, Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978, Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018, People's Republic of China, Russian Federation, Islamic Republic of Iran, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, U.S. military installations
Where it stands
7 cosponsors: 6 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Mar 6, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 6, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $391,531 in lobbying spend. A filing names 4 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Rounds, the sponsor, reported $1,681,790 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Smithfield Foods, Inc. — $270,000 on 1 filing
- American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery — $121,531 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 18, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,493 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 18, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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