U.S. Department of the Treasury

By modernizing CFIUS, FIRRMA strengthens the government’s ability to protect national security while preserving the longstanding open investment policy of the United States.  At its core, FIRRMA expands the scope of transactions reviewable by CFIUS to address more effectively current national security concerns.  CFIUS was last updated more than a decade prior to FIRRMA’s enactment and its jurisdiction had remained unchanged in the 30 years since Congress passed the Exon-Florio Amendment, which created Section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, the statutory cornerstone of CFIUS.  Both the nature of foreign investments in the United States and the national security landscape have shifted significantly since then.