The U.S. government should dramatically increase the number of Cuban officials who are sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said Dec. 11.
Marc Selinger
Marc Selinger, Assistant Editor, is the congressional reporter for Export Compliance Daily, which he joined in December 2023. He previously wrote for a variety of defense publications, highlights of which included covering the Paris and Farnborough (UK) air shows and touring the Israeli defense industry. His first full-time journalism job involved reporting on local government, schools and police news for a community newspaper in Michigan. He is on X at @marcselinger and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-selinger-315089173/.
In one of his last moves as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, retiring Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., introduced a wide-ranging China bill Dec. 11 that contains several sanctions, foreign investment and trade provisions.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., both said Dec. 12 that lawmakers continue to seek a compromise on legislation to restrict U.S. outbound investment in China.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who opposed passage of a law banning TikTok in the U.S. unless China’s ByteDance divests the popular social media application, said Dec. 10 he is “still hopeful” the U.S. Supreme Court will rule the measure unconstitutional.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., who is slated to become chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in January (see 2412100008), said Dec. 10 that he envisions a greater role for the panel in overseeing State Department operations.
House Republicans have chosen Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the next Congress.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., introduced a wide-ranging Hong Kong bill Dec. 9 that would, among other things, reauthorize the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act for five years.
A sticking point in House-Senate negotiations over legislation to restrict U.S. outbound investment in China has been a Senate proposal to give the Securities and Exchange Commission a role, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee said Dec. 10.
The newly released FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) calls for the executive branch to take several actions related to export controls, including a review of China’s efforts to evade U.S. restrictions, and an assessment of Japan’s possible participation in the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) security partnership.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, and eight other committee Republicans urged the Biden administration Dec. 5 to step up implementation and enforcement of sanctions on Iran’s oil sector to deprive Tehran of funding for terrorism and nuclear weapons development.