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Chair urges CFIUS-style control test and criticizes 15% ownership threshold in vehicle bill
Summary
The committee chair argued a 15% foreign-ownership threshold in the Connected Vehicle Security Act is arbitrary and could be abused, urged adopting CFIUS 'control' language and said he would offer then withdraw an amendment while urging authors to adopt the change before floor consideration.
The committee returned to legislative business after considering nominations and the chair focused attention on a controversial 15% ownership threshold in the Connected Vehicle Security Act. The chair said the provision "reflects corporate welfare" and warned it could be used to target specific manufacturers, saying of the threshold: "It would become illegal for Mercedes to sell a single vehicle in The United States." He urged replacing the percentage test with a CFIUS-style control test that evaluates whether a foreign investor exercises control over a U.S. company.
The chair argued the CFIUS approach ties prohibitions to actual control rather than an arbitrary percentage and said the Department of Commerce had proposed language consistent with that approach. The chair said he would offer an amendment reflecting CFIUS language but ultimately withdrew it while urging the bill's authors to adopt that approach before floor consideration. "If the provision that is in the bill right now... stays in the bill, this bill will not become law," the chair said, urging adoption of more precise language to avoid unintended consequences and political objections.
