On Tuesday, Rep. David Scott (D-GA) questioned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the spy balloon that flew over the U.S. during a House Financial Service Committee hearing.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The gentleman's time has expired.
00:01The gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Scott,
00:03is recognized for five minutes.
00:05Thank you, Chairman.
00:07And Secretary Yellen, you remember the last time
00:13you were here, I raised concerns about the balloon going
00:20over the United States by China and how concerning that was.
00:28Since that time, this issue of national security
00:33and agriculture is going hand in hand.
00:37Our Farm Bill and my good friend Chairman G.T. Thompson
00:42and I, our two leaders on ag, have framed this
00:47as a national security issue.
00:51And here's why.
00:54The FBI has now labeled the Chinese government's action
01:00as the greatest threat.
01:03When Director Christopher Wray warned us in April that he said,
01:09and I quote, that Chinese hackers have infiltrated
01:15US critical military infrastructures
01:20and are now poised to cause significant damage
01:26at any given moment's notice.
01:30So we've got a national security issue here
01:36of soaring magnitude.
01:38And we're working in a bipartisan way, obviously,
01:43to solve this problem.
01:45So I want to ask you some specific questions here.
01:50Under your proposal going forward, you have now more
01:54than 50 new facilities that will be added to the list of sites
02:00where surrounding property transactions may be reviewed
02:06by the Committee on Foreign Investments.
02:10And now it's totaling 227.
02:16So I want to thank you.
02:19You all are moving.
02:20And this has to be our number one national security issue,
02:28largely because it's a delicate dance.
02:31Many people don't know.
02:34We do know China is our greatest threat.
02:37But it is also our greatest and largest trading partner.
02:44So it's a very delicate dance that we have to do.
02:49Now tell me, how did the York Committee ultimately decide
02:54which military bases would be included
02:59in this latest expansion?
03:01We worked very closely with the Department of Defense
03:05in issuing the notice of proposed rulemaking
03:09that came out yesterday.
03:11And they undertook a comprehensive assessment
03:15of military installations and considered a number of factors,
03:23operations, assets, missions, training at each installation,
03:30and what was appropriate in terms of coverage under civil.
03:34Yeah, pardon me.
03:35I want to get to a couple more.
03:38My understanding is that three or more military installations
03:44were removed from that list.
03:48Congressman, my understanding is that nothing is actually
03:52removed from the list.
03:54But when areas were expanded or new bases
03:58were added to the list, some existing bases
04:02may have fallen within the radius of another base
04:09that either was expanded or added.
04:12I don't think that there were any bases that
04:16are actually removed.
04:19OK, now let me ask you this.
04:22To the best of your knowledge, is there any indication
04:27that the Chinese government is looking beyond land purchases
04:32and farmland and expanding into buying
04:37either other types of small businesses
04:41around military bases?
04:43And I also want to thank you for working
04:46with my staff on this issue.
04:49And I hope that we continue to work together,
04:52because it is now the number one issue facing us
04:57as far as agriculture is concerned,
05:00and now as far as the whole national security
05:04of our nation.
05:06So I can get back to you on whether or not
05:09we're looking at small businesses.
05:13I believe that would be within the scope of CFIUS.
05:16I look forward to working with you.
05:18Gentlemen, time has expired.
05:20Recognize the gentlewoman from California,
05:22Ms. Kim, for five minutes.
05:25Thank you, Chairman.
05:26Secretary Yellen, thank you for joining us today.
05:29As you know, the