Menendez Introduces Amendment to NDAA Requiring POTUS, VPOTUS, Cabinet Members of CFIUS to Disclose Private Business Transactions with Foreign Entities

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would require the President, Vice President and Cabinet Members who review the impact of foreign investment in the United States on our national security, to disclose every 90 days all private business transactions with foreign entities. Current disclosure requirements for the Cabinet Members who serve on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), as well as the President, do not provide for transparency regarding potential conflicts of interest related to transactions under committee review.

“Right now, the American people have no way of knowing whether decisions made by administration officials regarding foreign investment in the U.S. are influenced by their own personal business interests or our national security interest,” said Sen. Menendez.  “My amendment is about simple transparency.  It says to those making decisions about our national security: if your private company is doing business with foreign entities, disclose it.  If you don’t want to disclose it, divest your holdings or put them in a blind trust.”

The Secretaries of Treasury, State, Homeland Security, Defense, Commerce and Energy, the Attorney General, U.S. Trade Representative, and the Office of Science & Technology Policy are statutory members of CFIUS.  While CFIUS makes a recommendation to the President on the national security implications of a foreign investment, only the President him/herself can make a determination to block a potentially threatening investment.

The amendment is co-sponsored by Senators Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).