Thomas DiNanno, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be undersecretary of state for arms control and international security (see 2502120058), said April 9 that speeding up foreign military sales (FMS) will be a priority for him if he’s confirmed by the Senate.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 18-4 April 9 to approve the nomination of former Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., to be U.S. ambassador to China. The nomination now heads to the full Senate for consideration. Perdue testified before the committee April 3 that he would try to “increase the dialogue pace” on U.S.-China trade, including on agricultural products (see 2504030045).
The Senate voted 66-32 on April 8 to confirm former U.S. ambassador to Portugal George Glass to be U.S. ambassador to Japan. Glass testified March 13 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he would seek to ensure that Japan follows through on its commitment to ramp up purchases of U.S. liquefied natural gas (see 2503130050).
The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved several sanctions and export control bills April 9, including one that would increase sanctions on Iran's energy sector to deprive Tehran of revenue it uses to fund terrorism.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., accused the Trump administration April 7 of violating the 2024 law that requires China’s ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a U.S. ban on the social media application.
Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced a bill April 8 that would require the administration to write a report to Congress on Hong Kong’s role in export control and sanctions evasion.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., reintroduced a bill April 7 that aims to close a loophole that has allowed China to use cloud service providers to access advanced U.S. computing chips remotely.
Reps. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, and John James, R-Mich., introduced a bill April 3 that would direct the administration to identify South African government officials and African National Congress leaders who should be sanctioned for human rights abuses or corruption.
Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., reintroduced a bill April 3 that would require an annual report to Congress on sanctions imposed under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, a 2020 law that aims to address the wrongful detainment of U.S. nationals abroad.
The Senate on April 3 defeated legislation by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., aimed at blocking $8.8 billion in arms transfers to Israel (see 2503280049). The two joint resolutions of disapproval received votes of 15-82 and 15-83. The Senate rejected three similar measures in November (see 2411210022).