Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has asked the Commerce Department for several types of information to help his panel better understand how Russia overcame export controls and sanctions to obtain U.S. technology for its military.

Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jeff Merkley of Oregon introduced a bill Feb. 28 to ban exports of liquefied natural gas and crude oil to China, Iran, North Korea and Russia. They said such exports could raise domestic prices for natural gas and help China’s state-sponsored industries compete against U.S. companies.

House Republican conservatives introduced a bill to restrict outbound investment in Chinese tech companies, require the administration to impose sanctions "on entities knowingly engaging in a pattern of theft of American IP," and impose sanctions on "Chinese officials and entities until they have stopped the flow of deadly fentanyl, and we’ve determined that fentanyl overdoses/deaths have dropped by 98%." It also said the administration must sanction "Chinese apps that steal U.S. citizens’ data and protect personal health data from China."

A bipartisan group of nine senators, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., urged the Biden administration on Feb. 29 to consider taking additional steps, including economic restrictions, to pressure Nicaraguan government officials to end their crackdown on political dissent and religious freedom.

Nine Republican senators urged President Joe Biden to rescind his recent executive order on West Bank sanctions and his new memorandum on U.S. foreign military aid, saying both treat Israel unfairly.

The leaders of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence urged Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to strengthen biotechnology export controls to preserve U.S. leadership in the critical sector.

The Biden administration and Congress should wield a wide range of tools to choke off Iran’s oil exports, which are fueling Tehran’s support for terrorist groups, a former State Department official said Feb. 28.

Reps. Max Miller, R-Ohio, and Angie Craig, D-Minn., led 20 other House members on a letter to administration officials expressing concern that a lack of a strategy to open markets through free trade agreements is leading to a trade deficit in agriculture. The authors noted that the U.S. had an agricultural trade surplus for about 60 years, until recently.

The Agriculture Trade Caucus asked the administration to negotiate market-access trade agreements, saying it needs "to proactively engage and secure enforceable, high-standard agreements with our trading partners to ensure our farmers and ranchers can compete globally on a level playing field."

The Biden administration is misusing its Latin America sanctions authorities by targeting U.S. partners and ignoring misbehavior by less friendly countries, eight Republican senators told President Joe Biden.