Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged the U.N. Security Council Dec. 6 to expand the arms embargo on Sudan’s Darfur region to cover all of the war-torn country. “While I am grateful the Security Council recently unanimously decided to extend the embargo until September 2025, combatants on both sides of the conflict continue to receive a steady flow of weapons and ammunition from all corners of the country,” Murphy said. The warring parties then “use these weapons to continue their brutal campaigns and terrorize innocent civilians.” Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., made a similar recommendation in November (see 2411250026).
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, and eight other committee Republicans urged the Biden administration Dec. 5 to step up implementation and enforcement of sanctions on Iran’s oil sector to deprive Tehran of funding for terrorism and nuclear weapons development.
Western countries should impose additional sanctions on Belarus for supplying Russia’s war machine, helping Moscow evade sanctions and indoctrinating Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, three witnesses told the congressionally led U.S. Helsinki Commission Dec. 5.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., introduced a bill this week to delay implementation of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s new beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting rule by at least a year.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced a bill Dec. 3 to impose sanctions on Chinese police departments that operate in the U.S. or try to do so.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, introduced a bill Dec. 3 that would require sanctions against those who commit "genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity" in Sudan.
Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked the Government Accountability Office Dec. 3 to report to Congress on whether U.S. restrictions on artificial intelligence exports are adequate to protect national security and human rights.
The House approved a bill by voice vote Dec. 3 that is designed to protect American companies that are sued in federal court for complying with U.S. sanctions and export controls.
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said Dec. 2 that his bill to expand sanctions on Syria's Bashar Assad regime seems to have stalled in Congress but that he hopes to get it enacted into law next year if not this month.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on Dec. 3 criticized the Biden administration’s new export controls on advanced computing chips and chipmaking equipment, saying they leave too many loopholes that Chinese companies can exploit to obtain American technology and modernize China’s military. McCaul said he plans to work with the incoming Trump administration to close those loopholes. McCaul made his comments a day after the Bureau of Industry and Security unveiled the new restrictions (see 2412020016).