Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., urged the Biden administration last week to try to expand and better enforce the U.N. Security Council's arms embargo on war-torn Sudan.

The chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China urged U.S. technology companies Microsoft and Google Nov. 22 to explain why they reportedly funded Chinese tech firms that assisted in censorship and police surveillance in China, including of repressed minority groups. The tweet by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Sen. Jeffrey Merkley, D-Ore., seeks “assurances” that investments by Microsoft and Google are “not abetting human rights abuses in China.” Microsoft and Google had no immediate comment on the tweet.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., urged the Biden administration late Nov. 25 to resist a push from House Democrats to remove Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list.

The leaders of the House Select Committee on China said Nov. 25 that they have asked for a briefing on how the Treasury Department is responding to Hong Kong’s growing role in sanctions evasion.

Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., introduced a bill last week to require the Energy Department to examine the impact on climate change and other factors when considering permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals.

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., introduced a bill Nov. 21 to prohibit the transfer of Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, to Ukraine. His bill was referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Higgins has been a critic of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, and President Joe Biden reportedly recently agreed to allow Ukraine to use ATACMS to strike deeper inside Russia. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said Nov. 17 that he welcomes Biden's decision but believes it should have occurred sooner.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., introduced two export-related measures Nov. 21 aimed at encouraging the United Arab Emirates to stop arming Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia group, which is fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces.

House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said Nov. 20 that the Biden administration should sanction the Myanma Economic Bank, which serves the country’s oppressive military junta. He cited a news report indicating that dozens of Myanmar civil society groups have urged the State and Treasury departments to sanction the bank. Sanctioning the bank would be a "pivotal next step to implementing" his Burma Unified Through Rigorous Military Accountability Act, or BURMA Act, which was signed into law in December 2022, he said.

Several Republican lawmakers called for sanctioning International Criminal Court (ICC) officials after the ICC issued arrest warrants Nov. 21 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza.

The Senate late Nov. 20 defeated three joint resolutions of disapproval that would have blocked the transfer of certain offensive weapons to Israel (see 2411200041).