The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved by voice vote March 27 a bill aimed at curbing China’s export of fentanyl precursor chemicals to Mexican drug traffickers.
Six Senate Banking Committee Democrats, including ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., asked the Trump administration March 26 to explain how it plans to implement the $20 million funding cut it recently imposed on the Bureau of Industry and Security, including whether it intends to shrink the agency’s workforce.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is poised to receive $171 million in funding in FY 2025, down 10.5% from FY 2024, as part of the Trump administration’s “illegal” cuts to national security programs, Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., said March 25.
The Treasury and State departments are reviewing a recently introduced bill to restrict outbound investment in China, a key lawmaker said March 25.
The State and Treasury departments should form a task force to “robustly investigate and sanction” illicit gold trafficking networks, a watchdog group representative told a House panel March 25.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the Trump administration March 20 to consider further easing sanctions on Syria to help the war-torn country rebuild following last year’s fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Three House members announced March 21 that they have introduced a companion bill to Senate legislation that would restrict U.S. outbound investment in China.
Sponsors of a recently reintroduced House bill that could lead to sanctions on certain foreign telecommunications firms are looking into several potential avenues for getting the legislation passed, a congressional aide said March 21.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has begun to experience a significant decline in export license applications for Australia and the U.K. as a result of a rule it issued last year to reduce defense-related licensing requirements for those countries, a Commerce Department official said March 19.
The EU plans to update its export controls to make them more effective amid rapid geopolitical and technological change, a government official said March 19.