Eight Senate Democrats, including Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged the Trump administration May 19 to reconsider its AI deals with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, saying the agreements lack guardrails to prevent the diversion of U.S. technology to China.

House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., urged the Trump administration May 19 to consider adding Chinese electric vehicle charging company Autel Energy to the Commerce Department’s Entity List and the Defense Department’s Section 1260H list of Chinese military companies.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended President Donald Trump’s recent decision to lift sanctions on Syria (see 2505130061), saying the country’s transitional authority might collapse in weeks or months without outside assistance, a situation that could lead to civil war.

Three House Republican lawmakers, including House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., asked Harvard University May 19 to provide all communications it has had since 2019 with entities “blacklisted” by the U.S. government.

House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, introduced joint resolutions of disapproval May 15 aimed at blocking $1.4 billion in arms sales to the United Arab Emirates. The lawmakers said the UAE is fueling Sudan’s civil war by providing weapons to the Rapid Support Forces militia, which is fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (see 2505130008).

Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and John Curtis, R-Utah, introduced a bill May 14 that would require the president to determine whether certain judges and other officials in Hong Kong violated human rights and should face sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act or the Hong Kong Autonomy Act.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced a bill May 15 that would put China’s Institute of Forensic Science (IFS) back on the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List.

To deter an invasion of Taiwan, the U.S. government should make it clear it will inflict “economic pain” on China if Beijing launches an attack, a researcher told the House Select Committee on China May 15.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., announced May 15 that he has introduced joint resolutions of disapproval aimed at blocking $3.5 billion in arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He cited ethical concerns about President Donald Trump's ties to both countries.

A bipartisan group of eight House members May 15 introduced a companion to a Senate bill that would require export-controlled advanced computing chips to contain location verification mechanisms. The legislation is intended to prevent the diversion of chips to “adversaries” such as China.