White House Requests Funding to Support Outbound Investment Screening, Export Enforcement

The proposed budget, released March 9, would allocate $5 million to the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration to “enable” the agency to “assist the Department of Treasury in scoping and implementing” an outbound investment review program. The program would “address national security risks associated with outbound investments, which would prevent U.S. capital and expertise from financing advances in critical sectors that undermine U.S. national security while not placing an undue burden on U.S. investors and businesses,” Commerce said in a news release. The Biden administration reportedly is “close” to issuing new rules to restrict outbound investments in certain technologies that could help China advance its chip capabilities (see 2303060007).

Commerce requested $1.3 billion, an 11% increase from FY 2023, including $222 million for the Bureau of Industry and Security, an increase from the $199.5 million Commerce requested for FY 2023. That money would help BIS “expand capacity” for its export enforcement efforts, “bolster technical capacity to identify critical and emerging technologies eligible for export control, evaluate the effectiveness of export controls, and increase regional expertise to enhance cooperation on export controls with allies and partners,” the White House said. The request also includes $3 million for BIS to “support Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) examinations,” Commerce said.

The budget also requests $16.3 billion for the Treasury Department, a 15% increase from FY 2023. The White House asked for $244 million for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, a $28 million increase from the previous year, to “expand Treasury’s capacity to provide financial intelligence and conduct sanctions-related economic analysis while continuing to modernize the sanctions process.”