WASHINGTON, D.C. - Nebraska Congressman Mike Flood highlighted Chinese surveillance programs at a house financial services hearing and questioned a former assistant Secretary of the Treasury about the Chinese purchasing land in rural America.

Flood: “Folks in North Dakota and several rural states are raising the red flag about Chinese government purchasing real estate in the United States.”

He asked Tom Feddo about the extent that Chinese real estate purchases came under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

Feddo said CFIUS is primarily concerned about real estate purchases near 200 military installations.

Flood said the Chinese government offered to pay for a garden in Washington, D.C., that is outside of the CFIUS parameters for review. Flood said the garden was an attempt to gather information.

Flood: “Do you feel confident that CFIUS’s current review process gives us the ability to police what I think a lot of folks in North Dakota and Nebraska and other communities are saying about the CCP’s effort in real estate?"

Feddo: “I do to the extent that it’s a clear national security issue related to a U.S. business or an installation or to something that gives it a hook. If it’s more of a raw real estate transaction, that may be a question for another authority within the government.”

There are 82 launch facilities for Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles in western Nebraska. Eastern Nebraska is home to Offut Air Force Base and Stratcom.

Congressman Flood is a member of the House’s Financial Services Committee.

Mike Flood is the founder and an owner of Flood Communications and News Channel Nebraska.