(José Niño, Headline USA) Rep. Brandon Gill, R-TX, has put forward legislation that would ban several of the United States’s main competitors on the world stage, such as China, from buying farmland nationwide.
Gill, 31, is the youngest sitting House Republican and represents Texas’ 26th congressional district. When he was interviewed by Texas Scorecard, he broke down what his legislation entails. He stated, “If a foreign country prohibits Americans from purchasing land in their country, we should do the same to them.”
“The Chinese Communist Party is one of the biggest offenders,” declared Gill. “The CCP has no place on our nation’s soil. My Land and National Defense Act is a commonsense solution to keep our adversaries from owning our farmland.”
The freshman Republican introduced the Land and National Defense, also known as the LAND Act, last Friday.
The LAND Act prohibits the purchase of American land by foreign nationals from countries that ban Americans from purchasing land. Individuals with dual citizenship in the United States and an adversarial foreign power would be subject to the same restrictions.
In a similar vein, foreign-owned companies and government entities would be subject to these restrictions.
Gill’s proposal would require the Department of Agriculture to inform members of Congress of any land obtained by a foreign purchaser, be it hostile or friendly.
On top of that, Gill’s bill would set up a U.S. Land Protection Task Force to publish reports on the percentage of agricultural land sold to all foreign buyers and the states in which the land was sold.
In the Texas State legislature, similar measures have been introduced. Multiple State House Republicans such as State Reps. Briscoe Cain and David Spiller have already put forward legislation to restrict land purchases by strategic competitors of the United States.
State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst similarly introduced Senate Bill 17 to tackle the issue of foreign land ownership. This bill is currently in the Senate Committee on State Affairs.
In the 2025 session of the Texas state legislature, the Republican Party of Texas made “Texas is Not for Sale” as one of its key legislative planks for the legislative session.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
