Eight Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, urged the State Department this week to sanction Chinese entities involved in transferring missile propellant ingredients to Iran.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.Y., said Feb. 6 that Democrats remain open to negotiating a deal with Republicans on a bill to sanction International Criminal Court (ICC) officials.

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on Feb. 2 urged Hungary and Slovakia to end their opposition to EU sanctions against Georgian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili and his “cronies” who “rigged” the country’s October parliamentary elections and are now "brutally cracking down" on pro-democracy protesters. Previously, on Jan. 29, Wilson and U.K. Parliament Member James MacCleary jointly asked U.K. Foreign Minister David Lammy to sanction Ivanishvili. The State Department sanctioned him in late December (see 2412270011).

A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers reintroduced a bill Feb. 4 that would prohibit the sale of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to “foreign adversaries,” namely China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and member Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, introduced a bill Feb. 3 that would sanction foreign entities that facilitate illegal immigration into the U.S., including human smuggling networks and financial institutions that enable their operations.

House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., has urged newly installed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to follow through on his pledge to increase sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.

The Trump administration’s foreign aid freeze will hamstring efforts by international organizations such as Conflict Armament Research (CAR) to detect sales of American technology to foreign "adversaries," including Iran, North Korea and Russia, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Feb. 4.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, reintroduced a bill Jan. 31 that would direct the State Department to designate four Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, reintroduced a bill Jan. 30 that would sanction Chinese individuals and entities that engage in a pattern of intellectual property theft from the U.S.

A group of 13 House Democrats urged the Trump administration Jan. 31 not to ease sanctions on Venezuela as part of a deal to return Venezuelans living in the U.S. to their home country.