Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 5410 - Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1988

(House Rules)
(Bryant (D) Texas and 22 others)

If H.R. 5410 were presented to the President, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto it.

The provisions in H.R. 5410 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 civil and criminal penalties. H.R. 5410 would make capital more costly in the United States, cutting into economic growth and new jobs.

Vital business could be pushed offshore by H.R. 5410 at the very time America is fighting to maintain its competitiveness. In summary, H.R. 5410 would result in America abandoning its open capital markets which have been used to its advantage for over 200 years to build the economy.