Seven Republican senators led by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced a bill this month aimed at countering the Commerce Department’s recent 90-day pause in issuing commercial firearms export licenses.
The Congressional Research Service issued an updated report this month on issues surrounding the congressional review process for U.S. arms sales, including information on which sales require notification to Congress, the various arms sale notification procedures in the Senate and House, and the ways Congress can try to reject certain arms sales. The report includes examples of recent arms sales -- including ones to Ukraine and Israel -- as well as instances in which Congress blocked certain sales.
Four lawmakers are urging the State Department to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials who offered bounties for the arrests of five Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living abroad, including two in the United States.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is urging the Commerce Department to block exports of chip design software to China’s Brite Semiconductor, which reportedly offers chip design services to six Chinese military suppliers (see 2312130020).
A group of 15 House and Senate members wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Dec. 18 asking whether the Department of Defense played a role in approving the export of U.S. technology to Chinese drone manufacturer Da Jiang Innovations (DJI).
The Biden administration should develop a comprehensive sanctions strategy targeting the leaders of Sudan’s warring parties and those that supply the belligerents with arms, the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Dec. 19.
Four Republican leaders of the House Financial Services Committee on Dec. 18 urged the Biden administration to impose “comprehensive energy sanctions” on Russia, saying the existing price cap on Russian oil sales has failed to choke off revenue that Moscow uses to fund its war in Ukraine.
Five Republican senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to re-designate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, citing the Yemen-based group’s recent attacks in the region.
Reps. Nathaniel Moran and Michael McCaul, Republicans from Texas, introduced a bill to make permanent U.S. export control regulations that prohibit foreign countries from transferring certain U.S. technology to Iran.
The Treasury Department is preparing a response to questions it received from Congress about some of the money Iran has received through recent U.S. sanctions waivers, a Treasury official said Dec. 13.