The Russia and Belarus Financial Sanctions Act, clarifying that foreign subsidiaries of U.S. financial institutions must comply with American sanctions against Russia and Belarus, passed out of the House Financial Services Committee March 17 on a voice vote. The Nowhere to Hide Oligarchs' Assets Act, which gives the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network more access to records so that they can "detect Russian oligarchs who are participating in money laundering techniques to hide their money, avoid scrutiny, and evade our sanctions," passed out of the same committee on a 26-23 party-line vote.
Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., and other Republicans asked the administration to use all available tools to help the union that represents dock workers and the port authorities on the West Coast to reach contracts on time this summer. Braun and his colleagues wrote, "We have heard from a number of stakeholders with concerns that a breakdown in negotiations ... will lead to even more disruptions and shipping delays at a time in which our nation’s ports are reporting record backlogs. ... Any delays caused by failed negotiations will have a drastic cost and impact on our nation’s supply chain. This cost will be felt by not only retailers and others that rely on ports for their business, but also by millions of American workers, farmers, and ranchers, who may face short-term shutdowns at their factories or barriers to shipping their products to market.”
The U.S. should tighten export controls against the Beijing Genomics Institute and its subsidiaries to prevent it from importing U.S. genomic and semiconductor technologies, the House’s Republican-led China Task Force said in a letter to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Although the Commerce Department’s Entity List has two of BGI’s subsidiaries, the lawmakers said several more should be added to restrict the company’s “access to technology, data, and money.”
The Commerce Department should tighten export restrictions on China’s top chipmaker to prevent it from importing sensitive semiconductor equipment and exploiting a U.S. export control loophole, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas said. The lawmakers, who voiced similar concerns to Commerce last year (see 2103190005), said in a March 17 letter to Commerce that its export control licensing policies for Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation are “ineffective” and are denying less than 1% of export applications to sell technology to the company.
Sen. Jim Risch and Rep. Mike Simpson, both Idaho Republicans, led a bicameral, bipartisan letter asking the Biden administration to push Mexico to comply with its agreements to allow the import of fresh U.S. potatoes. The letter from 34 members of Congress, including the Senate Finance Committee's top Democrat and Republican, said Mexico says it needs additional site visits in the U.S. before restoring market access.
The State and Defense departments should act quickly to send more weapons, ammunition and military equipment to Ukraine as it defends itself from Russia’s military incursion, Republican lawmakers said. In a March 15 letter to secretaries of both agencies, Republican leaders on the Senate and House national security committees urged the administration to “rapidly exercise the authority” granted under Congress’ recently passed spending bill (see 2203110011), which includes funding for “a robust package of lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine.”
Republican senators criticized President Joe Biden's choices not to levy sanctions on Russia before last month's invasion of Ukraine, and questioned why the sanctions now aren't tougher, during a press conference March 16 at the Capitol.
Senators on the Finance Committee agreed that deepening trade ties with countries in Asia is important both for geopolitical and economic reasons, but they disagreed during a March 15 hearing on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework about whether a traditional free-trade agreement is a better approach than the IPEF.
Senate Republicans said this week they would not sign off on an upcoming U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement (see 2203070008) they say will “weaken” U.S. sanctions and lessen restrictions on the country’s nuclear program. The senators are concerned about reports the administration will soon conclude a deal with Iran to “provide substantial sanctions relief in exchange for merely short-term limitations on Iran’s nuclear program,” the lawmakers said in a March 14 joint statement.
The Senate on March 10 passed a government funding bill that includes an emergency Ukraine-related aid package for certain U.S. export control and sanctions work. The bill, passed by the House March 9 (see 2203100014), allocates money for the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and DOJ to help enforce export controls and sanctions against Russia. The president must sign the bill before it becomes law.