Senators said this week they are close to finalizing negotiations on a bill that would impose new sanctions on Russia both before and after it potentially invades Ukraine. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the Democratic chair of the chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee, said Feb. 1 that he plans to meet soon with Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the committee’s top Republican, to finalize the bill.

Iowa Republican senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are asking the Biden administration to complete free trade agreements in Asia, or rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as China expands its influence through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). They wrote Jan. 25: "Initially, your administration stated they were content with focusing on your domestic agenda before they consider negotiating new free trade agreements. However, a year later, it is clear that your domestic agenda has been stalled while China is taking serious action to expand their foothold in the region."

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, recently introduced the Sanctions Targeting Aggressors of Neighboring Democracies (STAND) with Taiwan Act of 2022, a bill that he says "would impose crippling, comprehensive economic and financial sanctions on China in the event that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) or its proxies initiate a military invasion of the island democracy of Taiwan." Sullivan said the bill would prohibit hedge funds, venture capital firms and private equity firms from investing in any Chinese company in a Made in China 2025 priority sector and would sanction Chinese financial institutions and industrial sectors. It also would ban the importation of a good "mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the People’s Republic of China, or by a person working for or affiliated with an entity or industry wholly financed by the Chinese Communist Party or in which the Chinese Communist Party has a majority ownership interest," unless the president said the importation is necessary for the nation's economic security, national security or public health.

A group of Senate Republicans introduced a bill last week that would redesignate the Yemen-based Houthi militant group as a foreign terrorist organization, reversing a Biden administration decision last year to revoke some sanctions against the group. The bill, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and sponsored by eight other Republicans, would subject the Houthis to strict financial blocking measures and sanction the group’s leaders. The Biden administration revoked the sanctions, which were imposed under President Donald Trump, because of concerns that they were hindering humanitarian aid to the region (see 2102100016). “I’ve consistently sought to reimpose those sanctions, and it’s now clear that if the Biden administration is unwilling to do so then Congress should mandate that they do,” Cruz said.

All 14 of the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee are telling colleagues in their chamber that providing a $12,500 incentive to purchase union-made, U.S.-assembled electric vehicles will spur foreign retaliation against American auto exports. The House version of Build Back Better offers a $7,500 refundable tax credit for any electric vehicle purchase -- the same amount as current law, but makes it refundable and does not phase it out for leading manufacturers. Currently, Tesla and General Motors vehicles are no longer eligible for the credits. But in order to receive $12,500, the car or truck would need to include a U.S.-assembled battery and be made by union workers in the United States.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., introduced a version of a bill that would impose a host of sweeping new sanctions against Russia in the event it invades Ukraine, including new restrictions on Russian debt and broad sanctions against the country’s extractive industries. The bill, introduced in the House last week, also would authorize certain sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, designate Russian financial institutions and expedite military assistance for Ukraine, similar to its companion bill in the Senate (see 2201120036).

The Energy Department should grant a request from Freeport LNG to expand its export capacity at its Texas liquefaction and export terminal, a group of bipartisan lawmakers said. In a Jan. 18 letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, the Texas lawmakers said liquefied natural gas exports “continue to encourage investment in U.S. natural gas production, which in turn generates billions of dollars in new investments, benefiting local communities, producing tax revenues, and creating jobs.” They asked the agency to “move quickly to grant such a request, as local, national and global communities stand to greatly benefit from the approval of Freeport LNG’s application.” An Energy Department spokesperson didn’t comment.

The Senate Banking Committee Jan. 19 approved the nominations of four Export-Import Bank officials and one official with the Commerce Department’s Foreign Commercial Service. The committee advanced all five for consideration before the full Senate: Reta Jo Lewis, for president of Ex-Im; Judith Pryor, for first vice president of Ex-Im; Owen Herrnstadt, for member of Ex-Im’s board of directors; Parisa Salehi, for Ex-Im inspector general; and Arun Venkataraman, for assistant secretary of Commerce and director general of the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service.

More than 25 House Republicans asked the administration to initiate a case at the World Trade Organization against India over that country's financial support for its wheat and rice growers. The letter, led by Rep. Tracey Mann, R-Kan., was sent Jan. 13. In the press release announcing the letter, the CEO of USA Rice said, "If left unchecked, the Indian export market will continue to grow at an uncontrollable rate and threaten the viability of rice and wheat producers throughout the world.” The press release also noted that some senators had earlier made the same request. "For too long, Indian government policies have cost U.S. wheat money and export opportunities. Those Indian policies cost U.S. wheat farmers more than $500 million annually,” said Kansas Association of Wheat Growers President Justin Knopf. “With India poised for near-record exports, time is of the utmost importance. We encourage the USTR to use the WTO to hold India accountable to their past commitments."

Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the Senate’s decision last week to not pass a bill that would have required new sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, saying it sends a “message of appeasement” to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Senate couldn’t reach the 60-vote threshold required to pass the bill after the White House convinced many Democrats to vote against the legislation, which it said would have undermined unity with Europe (see 2201130067).