Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 5 - Foreign Ownership Disclosure Act of 1989

(House Rules)
(Bryant (D) Texas and 19 others)

If H.R. 5 were presented to the President, his senior advisers would recommend he veto it.

The provisions in H.R. 5 which mandate registration and disclosure of foreign investment are potentially destructive to investment and will produce little or no useful information not already collected. Discriminatory treatment of foreign investors would discourage investment in America, raise investment costs through burdensome and intrusive reporting and public disclosure requirements, and inappropriately subject foreign investors to the risk of additional civil and criminal penalties. H.R. 5 would make capital more costly in the United States, cutting into economic growth, productivity, new jobs, and triggering higher interest rates that could hurt a wide range of Americans including homebuyers and farmers.

Vital business could be pushed offshore by H.R. 5 at the very time America is fighting to maintain its competitiveness. In summary, H.R. 5 would result in America abandoning its open capital markets which have been used to its advantage for over 200 years to build the economy.