Leaders of the House Select Committee on China announced April 1 that they have asked the Pentagon to consider adding seven “problematic” biotechnology entities to its 1260H List of Chinese military companies.
Four congressional Democrats announced last week that they introduced a bill that would require DOJ to provide an annual report to Congress on its efforts to curb illicit firearm sales from the U.S. to the Caribbean, including Haiti, which is increasingly plagued by "violent gangs."
PHILADELPHIA -- The glacial pace of developing electronically submitted export manifests is finally picking up, participants on a CBP export modernization panel said, with Tom Pagano, outbound enforcement policy branch chief, saying "we're really close."
Sens. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have both placed holds on President Joe Biden’s nomination of Erik Woodhouse to head the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., and two other Republican lawmakers have asked Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to provide documents, communications and a staff-level briefing to help them understand the Energy Department’s role in the Biden administration’s temporary pause on pending decisions for liquefied natural gas exports. In a letter last week, the lawmakers said they’re concerned the pause will damage U.S. national security and energy security and that it may have been made for political reasons. The administration announced the pause in January (see 2401260070), saying it wants to review criteria for approving LNG projects, including the impact on climate change.
Four Republican House members led by Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Texas have asked the Commerce and State departments to describe the measures they are considering to counteract what appears to be increasing collaboration between China and Iran on military drone development and distribution.
The World Trade Organization General Council on March 22 reached consensus on chairpersons for 2024. The new chairs include Norway's Petter Olberg for the General Council, Saudi Arabia's Saqer Abdullah Almoqbel for the dispute settlement body and Chile's Sofia Boza Martinez for the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, among others. The WTO noted that talks on a candidate for the chair of the Committee on Trade in Services will continue under Olberg's care, "with the aim of filling the vacancy as rapidly as possible."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has appointed Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., to chair the House Select Committee on China when its current chairman, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., leaves Congress next month, Moolenaar and the speaker’s office announced March 25.
The Senate voted 51-47 on March 23 to defeat a proposal from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would have prohibited the Biden administration from waiving certain sanctions against Iran.
The omission of funding for outbound investment restrictions in the recently enacted Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, or second minibus, is designed to prevent the Biden administration from blocking U.S. investors from taking over Chinese companies, the House Appropriations Committee said last week.