Five House and Senate Democrats introduced a bill June 6 that would require the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Small Business Administration to work together to help small businesses comply with the beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).

Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., announced June 5 that she has introduced a bill that would bar shipments of offensive weapons to Israel until Israel commits in writing to using the arms in accordance with U.S. and international law. Congress would have to pass a joint resolution approving those specific uses. Ramirez said the Block the Bombs Act is needed to reduce civilian casualties in the Gaza War. The bill, which has 21 co-sponsors, was referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., reintroduced a bill June 6 that would give the U.K. the same licensing exemption for unclassified defense exports that Canada currently enjoys under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The Special Relationship Military Improvement Act, which Green previously introduced in the last Congress, was referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Reps. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., introduced a bill May 23 that would bar State and Defense department officials involved in military sales from lobbying for three years after leaving their government jobs. The lawmakers said the No Revolving Door in Foreign Military Sales Act is intended to prevent conflicts of interest when former civil servants go to work for the defense industry or foreign actors. The legislation was referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

The U.S. should be prepared to reimpose sanctions on Syria if the country’s new government does not head in the right direction, a researcher told a congressional panel June 5.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., plans to force Senate votes as early as the week of June 9 and “certainly this month” on joint resolutions of disapproval that would block $3.5 billion in arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the lawmaker said at the Center for American Progress June 5. Murphy introduced the resolutions last month, citing ethical concerns about President Donald Trump's ties to both countries (see 2505150069).

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture approved an FY 2026 appropriations bill June 5 that would add the USDA to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review agricultural transactions. A similar provision was included in an FY 2024 appropriations law (see 2403110058). The new bill also would provide funding to improve the tracking system for foreign-owned agricultural land.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy voted 15-13 June 5 to approve a bill that would eliminate a requirement that the Energy Department authorize liquefied natural gas exports, leaving the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as the sole authority for the approval process. The Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act is intended to prevent a future administration from banning the issuance of U.S. LNG export permits. The full House passed the bill in the last Congress (see 2503070048).

The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s foreign arms sales task force met with representatives of defense contractors Boeing, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin and RTX June 4 to get their ideas on improving the U.S. foreign arms sales process, the committee said June 5. The closed-door session was the task force’s third in a series of roundtables to receive defense industry input (see 2504300020).

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill June 5 that would require the executive branch to develop a strategy to counter deepening cooperation among U.S. "adversaries" in such areas as sanctions evasion and the sharing of restricted dual-use technology (see 2505290076).