The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy voted 15-13 June 5 to approve a bill that would eliminate a requirement that the Energy Department authorize liquefied natural gas exports, leaving the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as the sole authority for the approval process. The Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act is intended to prevent a future administration from banning the issuance of U.S. LNG export permits. The full House passed the bill in the last Congress (see 2503070048).
The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s foreign arms sales task force met with representatives of defense contractors Boeing, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin and RTX June 4 to get their ideas on improving the U.S. foreign arms sales process, the committee said June 5. The closed-door session was the task force’s third in a series of roundtables to receive defense industry input (see 2504300020).
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill June 5 that would require the executive branch to develop a strategy to counter deepening cooperation among U.S. "adversaries" in such areas as sanctions evasion and the sharing of restricted dual-use technology (see 2505290076).
Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Greg Steube, R-Fla., an Iraq War veteran, urged the Trump administration on May 28 to impose a wide range of sanctions on Iraq to curb Iran's influence in the country.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., urged the Trump administration June 4 to investigate whether terrorists have used Elon Musk's social media platform X to raise money, in violation of U.S. sanctions.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., June 2 to “immediately” schedule a vote on a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill.
The U.S. should restrict but not completely cut off sales of “compute power” to China, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said May 30.
Reps. Jefferson Shreve, R-Ind., and Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, have introduced a bill that would require the Treasury Department to designate foreign entities that run large-scale scams on Americans as Foreign Financial Threat Organizations, Shreve announced last week.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., warned Nvidia and other U.S. chip firms last week that they will face penalties if they send advanced AI chips to China.
Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and David McCormick, R-Pa., have introduced a bill that would require the executive branch to develop a strategy to counter deepening cooperation among U.S. "adversaries" in such areas as sanctions evasion and the sharing of restricted dual-use technology, the lawmakers announced May 27.