CFIUS 'Reform' Looks 'Very Likely' to Pass in 2018, Consultant Mehlman Says in Q2 Update
Congress is "very likely" to pass CFIUS "reform" in 2018, said strategist and consultant Bruce Mehlman of Mehlman Castagnetti in his Q2 Washington update, referring to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The broad executive branch group…
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reviews the national security implications of foreign takeovers of U.S.-located companies of all types; the narrower Team Telecom -- DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security -- focuses on foreign takeovers of U.S. telecom and internet firms and assets (see 1711080040). Mehlman said "data breach notification" legislation is "possible," but "infrastructure" and "data privacy/online bill of rights" bills are "longer-term." He didn't handicap net neutrality legislation but said 36 states are "attempting to thwart" an FCC regulatory rollback through "state laws, executive orders or lawsuits." More generally, he cited institutional failures, motivated citizens, "revolutionary" technology, and "accelerating" societal changes as creating an "Age of Disruption" that "may usher in an Era of Reform." A Democratic "wave election" is "increasingly possible" in November, he said, though Republicans are less vulnerable in the Senate, where they're defending only nine incumbent seats to the Democrats' 26, than in the House, where the GOP is defending 50 "competitive" seats to Democrats' five.