Business Roundtable Comments on Senate Banking Committee Action on CFIUS Reform Bill

Washington, DC - In a letter to Senate Banking Committee members, Business Roundtable and other U.S. leading business organizations today thanked the Committee for their hard work and leadership on legislation to reform the U.S. government review process for foreign investment in the United States. While pleased with the progress of the Committee, Business Roundtable expressed concern that certain measures remaining in the legislation to reform the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review process could ultimately discourage job-creating investment in the United States.

"The Senate Banking Committee has reported a bill with strong national security protections that will provide a good foundation for further negotiation," said John J. Castellani, President of Business Roundtable. "We look forward to working with the Senate and House to address the issues we believe are necessary to protect national security without unnecessarily hampering foreign investment in the United States."

The letter, signed by the American Petroleum Institute, Business Roundtable, the Financial Services Forum, the Organization for International Investment and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, stated: "We recognize the critical importance of foreign investment in the United States and the 5.4 million jobs it supports. We also believe that protecting national security is paramount. If an acquisition of a U.S. company would truly impair national security, the President should not hesitate to exercise his authority to block such an acquisition."

The letter expressed appreciation to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Ranking Member Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) for undertaking the critical task of balancing national security interests with vital economic concerns. However, despite significant progress by the Committee, the Roundtable singled out additional areas that remain of great concern to U.S. business.

Among the significant issues yet to be resolved are: the unprecedented notification and reporting requirements which increase the risk of transactions becoming political; and, the reporting requirement which would create opportunity for information sent to Congress to be used for commercial purposes as opposed to national security purposes.

For a complete copy of Business Roundtable's letter to Congress, click here.

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Business Roundtable (www.businessroundtable.org) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with over $4.5 trillion in annual revenues and more than 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock market and represent nearly a third of all corporate income taxes paid to the federal government. Collectively, they returned more than $98 billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy in 2004.

Roundtable companies give more than $7 billion a year in combined charitable contributions, representing nearly 60 percent of total corporate giving. They are technology innovation leaders, with $86 billion in annual research and development spending -- nearly half of the total private R&D spending in the U.S.

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