The Federal Maritime Commission’s proposed definition for a carrier’s “unreasonable” refusal to accommodate U.S. exports is too broad and doesn't meet congressional intent, said Reps. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and John Garamendi, D-Calif., who led the House’s passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022.
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The Congressional Research Service issued a report this month on Iran’s transfer of weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, detailing the specific items that may have been sent and possible next steps for the U.S. The report noted Congress may look to push for more sanctions against any person or entity involved in the sales and is considering the Stop Iranian Drones Act, which would clarify U.S. sanctions policy on Iranian efforts to acquire unmanned drones. The House passed the bill in April (see 2204280007, 2112010019 and 2211020033).
The Biden administration should “show strength” in response to North Korea’s recent string of missile launches into the sea, said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The Kim Jong Un regime “has been given a moment of opportunity by the Biden administration’s weakness on the world stage and the support” of China in “evading sanctions,” McCaul said Nov. 3. “I strongly urge the administration to put forward a strategy that supports our allies, the Republic of Korea and Japan, and begins dealing with Kim from a position of strength.”
The Biden administration should “make full use” of its sanctions and export control authorities against Iran for transferring weapons and other military items to Russia, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a Nov. 1 letter to the White House. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas said Iran has sent hundreds of “lethal Mohajer-6 and Shahed-136 drones, as well as related technology and military advisors” to Russia since it invaded Ukraine, and is reportedly preparing to provide “Fateh-100 and Zolfaghar” ballistic missiles.
The U.S. shouldn’t remove any sanctions against Venezuela in negotiations with the Nicolas Maduro government, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a letter to the White House released this week. The two lawmakers urged the Biden administration against granting Chevron a license to resume certain oil activities in Venezuela and said it shouldn’t remove any sanctions on Venezuelan nationals, the Venezuelan Central Bank, the Venezuelan Economic and Social Development Bank, and state-owned mining company CVG Compania General de Mineria de Venezuela.
The State Department should sanction entities in Tunisia undermining the country’s stability, said Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The lawmakers said President Kais Saied’s recent constitutional referendum was a “vast expansion of presidential powers and drastically diminished the Tunisian people’s ability to elect their own government.” The U.S. should work with G7 partners to “address the erosion of Tunisian democracy and mitigate the effects of the country’s economic crisis,” the Oct. 16 letter said.
U.S. technology companies should make use of a Treasury Department license that authorizes certain communication-related transactions with Iran, a bipartisan group of lawmakers said last week. General License D2, issued in September (see 2209230037), can help Iranians obtain tools and access communication services to help them “circumvent government blockages,” the lawmakers said in an Oct. 27 letter to Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Digital Ocean. The companies should be more “proactive in acting pursuant to the broad authorization provided in GLD-2,” said the letter, signed by Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and others.
A Republican-backed bill introduced in the House could lead to the transfer of export control authorities from the Commerce Department to the Defense Department. The bill, introduced Oct. 28 by Reps. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Rob Wittman, R-Va., and Greg Steube, R-Fla., includes language critical of the Bureau of Industry and Security, saying the agency has made “little progress” in controlling emerging and foundational technologies under the Export Control Reform Act and that BIS’s export control authorities should be revoked.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., separately raised concerns this week about Chinese government interference in DOJ’s criminal investigation of Huawei after the U.S. government charged two Chinese intelligence officers with attempting to obstruct that probe (see 2210240061).
A bipartisan Senate bill unveiled this week could require the U.S. to impose “robust” human rights sanctions against criminal groups in Haiti. The Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act of 2022, sponsored by Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; and Tim Kaine, D-Va., would lead to the imposition of Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act sanctions on Haitian gang leaders and the “political and economic elites that support their activities.” The bill also would require the administration to report on gang violence in Haiti and their ties to members of the country's elite.