A new, bipartisan bill in the Senate and House would introduce new sanctions measures to “hold the Russian Federation accountable for the countless human rights abuses” in Ukraine. The bill -- introduced by in the Senate by Todd Young, R-Ind., and Jacky Rosen D-Nev., and in the House by Pat Fallon, R-Texas, and Jimmy Panetta D-Calif. -- would create a “congressional nomination process” for new human rights sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. It would also “update” U.S. policy to “address” people involved in Russia’s forced relocation and retention activities in Ukraine, and it would require the State Department to include details on human rights abuses in Ukraine in its annual human rights report. It would also require the administration to submit a classified report to Congress on the scope of Russia’s war crimes, including abuses to human rights.

U.S. agricultural exporters have “huge opportunities” in the Indo-Pacific and should prepare for expanded market access soon, said Alexis Taylor, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the USDA’s Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs undersecretary (see 2205160011). Taylor, speaking during a nomination hearing last week, said she hopes to work closely with other agencies on “trade parties” within the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (see 2209190077) if she is confirmed.

Republicans in the Senate and House last week introduced a bill that would prevent the U.S. from reentering the Iranian nuclear deal until it can certify that Iran hasn’t planned assassination attempts on Americans for five years. The legislation would specifically require the U.S. to continue imposing sanctions against Iran, and prevent the U.S. from issuing any sanctions waivers, until the “Government of Iran ceases to attempt to assassinate United States officials, other United States citizens, and Iranian nationals residing in the United States.” A lawmaker previously called on the Biden administration to withdraw from negotiations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action after DOJ charged an Iranian military official in a plot to assassinate former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton (see 2208150049).

The director of national intelligence should study how a potential “supplier partnership arrangement” between China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. and Apple would affect U.S. national security, four senators said in a Sept. 21 bipartisan letter to DNI Avril Haines. The study should assess how China supports YMTC as part of a plan to advance its domestic semiconductor industry, how YMTC potentially helps Chinese firms evade U.S. sanctions and YMTC’s role in China’s civil-military fusion program.

The Senate on Sept. 22 voted to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the international Montreal Protocol, which lawmakers say will not only slow climate change but help U.S. exporters. The amendment calls on countries to reduce the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that stem from air conditioning and refrigeration appliances, which damage the environment.

The House this week passed the Russia Cryptocurrency Transparency Act with several sanctions provisions, including one to require the State and Treasury departments to assess how digital currencies are affecting the “effectiveness and enforcement” of U.S. sanctions against Russia. The agencies would also be required to submit to Congress recommendations for “new legislative and regulatory measures” to strengthen the U.S.’s ability to stop digital currencies being used for sanctions evasion.

The Senate should move forward with bipartisan legislation that would give the administration stronger authorities to penalize and investigate sanctioned Russian oligarchs and tackle broader sanctions evasion issues (see 2207200020), senators said during a hearing this week. But Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said Congress shouldn’t be too quick to expand some of the Biden administration’s proposals, which could expand DOJ authorities unrelated to Russia.

The House of Representatives on Sept. 20 passed two sanctions bills, including one that could lead to more designations of Russian officials and oligarchs. The bills were grouped as part of a broader legislative package that passed 361-69.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. should require TikTok to cut ties with China-based ByteDance and all other Chinese companies, Sen. Josh Hawley, R- Mo., wrote in a Sept. 19 letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Hawley said TikTok’s COO told Congress last week that the company’s Chinese engineers are able to access U.S. user data and that TikTok “has taken no measures to ensure that the employees in China accessing this data are not members of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Apple should “rethink” any decision to purchase chips from China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote in a Sept. 14 letter to the U.S. technology company. Cotton said Apple and “far too many” other American businesses “already rely on China for manufacturing and supplies. Adding another Chinese company to Apple’s supply chain, particularly one with close ties” to the Chinese government and military, “compounds these risks.”