WASHINGTON – Yesterday on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) praised the inclusion of his long-awaited outbound investment measures in the conferenced National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that is expected to pass the House this week and underscored the critical role outbound investment plays in preserving the United States’ national security against threats from countries of concern like China, Russia, and Iran. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“This year’s NDAA, the defense authorization bill, includes numerous important policies to strengthen our national defense, but perhaps the biggest success in this year’s annual authorization bill is a significant win against the Chinese Communist Party.”  

“I tell people that the most important lesson I’ve learned here in the United States Senate is perseverance: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And that’s what we did here.”

“Every dollar invested in China by a United States investor into a Chinese company is a dollar that’s going toward the potential production of weapons and technology that one day may be used to kill Americans.” 

“Those who’ve thrown up roadblocks against this provision over the last three years are working directly, whether they know it or not, in the interest of the Chinese Communist Party, and directly, whether they know it or not, against the interests of the people they represent, the American people.” 

“But now, after nearly five years of work from members in both chambers, I’m proud to say the language that we proposed to address outbound investment transparency is in the final version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.” 

“This has been a marathon, and I’m thankful to the Majority Leader, Senator Thune… the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. I would add a number of other names – Senator Tim Scott, Senator Cortez Masto, Senator Dan Sullivan, and Representative Andy Barr in the House of Representatives – all of whom have contributed to this success when we passed the bill.”

“The Chinese Communist Party may have successfully evaded our scrutiny for the past few years, but this is the year we will finally put the nail in the coffin.”