The Texas state senate has passed a bill that would ban hostile nations from buying US farmland. Unfortunately, that only applies to four countries. But at least it’s a start. If only we could get Congress to care about America that much.
Senate Bill 147 would apply to any nation that falls under the Director of National Intelligence’s National Threat Assessment for three years in a row. The only four countries that currently qualify for that are China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Dual citizens and green card holders are exempted from the Texas bill. It bans the sale of agricultural land, oil-producing land, timber, and mineral-bearing lands.
Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-TX) introduced SB 147. She says about the bill, “Food security is national security. Oil and gas, our rare earth materials, timber – we need to be protecting that. This is a national security issue. So that’s why I linked the prohibitions back to the national threat assessment.”
Naturally, Democrats are calling the bill racist. Most Americans are probably still unaware that foreigners are even able to purchase land and homes in the US. It’s not a policy that makes any sense if you think about it.
While China has been buying up American farmland, and it has made a few headlines in recent months, they still own less than 1% of all farm acreage in the US. At least a few lawmakers are starting to pay attention. But why are any foreigners allowed to buy land here, without restrictions?
There are 78 countries around the world that ban any foreigners from purchasing land there. Most of them are countries that people would actually want to move to. Any economist can tell you that when foreigners are purchasing farms, homes or other property, it hurts the citizens of the home country by driving prices up. It’s great that Texas is paying attention, but until Congress takes action on this and starts banning foreign ownership of property in the US, the housing crisis will only continue to get worse.
