Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asked President Joe Biden in a Feb. 20 letter to clarify whether his recent executive order on West Bank sanctions applies to some or all of Jerusalem, Israel's capital. Cotton requested a response by Feb. 27. The White House had no immediate comment. The executive order, which Biden signed Feb. 1, allows the U.S. to sanction "foreign persons" responsible for an increase in violence in the West Bank (see 2402010053).
Five members of the House Select Committee on China are visiting Taiwan Feb. 22-24 to show support for the democratic country and discuss trade and investment, regional security and other issues with senior Taiwanese leaders and members of civil society, the committee said.
The Biden administration should promote de-escalation of the Israel-Hamas war by prioritizing defensive weapons systems over offensive ones when it makes its next major weapons transfer to Israel, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said in a Feb. 21 letter to President Joe Biden.
A bipartisan group of 11 House members urged the Biden administration on Feb. 16 to impose Global Magnitsky Act sanctions on seven Chinese companies for allegedly using Uyghur forced labor to provide seafood to U.S. markets.
The House of Representatives voted 389-32 on Feb. 14 to pass a bill that would expand sanctions on Syria's Bashar Assad regime.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Feb. 15 that he has issued a subpoena to the Commerce Department for documents relating to the Bureau of Industry and Security’s recent 90-day pause in issuing new commercial firearms export licenses.
The House of Representatives on Feb. 15 passed a bill that would reverse the Biden administration’s recent pause on pending decisions on liquefied natural gas exports. The bill received 224 yea votes -- 215 Republicans and nine Democrats -- and 200 nay votes, all from Democrats. The vote came a day after the administration said it “strongly opposes” the bill (see 2402140005). The legislation faces an uphill battle in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
The proposed Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, which would use sanctions and anti-money laundering measures to counter the illicit fentanyl supply chain (see 2401110042), passed the Senate Feb. 13 as part of a $95 billion national security supplemental appropriations bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. However, the fate of the fentanyl legislation is unclear, as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., criticized the Senate supplemental bill for failing to include funding for homeland border security.
Four lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to consider placing Chinese biotech company WuXi AppTec and its subsidiaries on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, the Treasury Department’s Non-Specially Designated Nationals Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List and the Defense Department’s Chinese Military Companies List. They said the firm has close ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and has been involved in perpetrating the CCP's human rights violations.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., chairman of the House Select Committee on China, announced Feb. 10 that he won't run for re-election this year. Gallagher said it is time for him to return to private life after serving four terms in the House. As the committee's top Republican, Gallagher led probes on a range of China trade issues, including a report in December that called on the U.S. to impose stronger export controls against China (see 2312120050) and revoke the country's permanent normal trade relations status (see 2312120004).