PASS Act of 2025
Key claim: The PASS Act of 2025 would prohibit citizens and entities of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea from purchasing or investing in U.S. agricultural land and companies, place the Secretary of Agriculture on CFIUS, require CFIUS review of certain foreign agricultural investments, and direct USDA to report on related national-security risks.
Abstract
(HR5760 · 119th Congress) Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security Act of 2025 or the PASS Act of 2025 This bill establishes requirements to address the national security risk to the agricultural sector of the United States. Specifically, the bill prohibits a foreign person (i.e., an individual or entity) who is a citizen of or acting on behalf of China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea from purchasing or investing in U.S. agricultural land and companies. The prohibition also applies to an entity that is registered or organized in, or has a principal place of business in, any of these countries. The President may waive this prohibition, on a case-by-case basis, if the President determines that the waiver is vital to U.S. national security interests. The bill also places the Secretary of Agriculture on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and requires CFIUS to review certain transactions involving investments by foreign persons in the U.S. agricultural sector. Additionally, the Department of Agriculture must report on the risks that foreign purchases of U.S. businesses engaged in agriculture pose to the U.S. agricultural sector. Latest action (2025-10-14): Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Why this matters
The PASS Act would move U.S. agricultural investment policy from disclosure-based (AFIDA) toward country-specific prohibitions, directly restricting importers of capital from four named adversary nations while empowering CFIUS to block ag-sector deals. For foreign agribusiness investors from CN/RU/IR/KP, it effectively closes the U.S. farmland and ag-company market absent a presidential waiver; for U.S. sellers and consumers, it narrows the buyer pool for farmland and could affect valuations and downstream input costs.