Senators said this week they are close to finalizing negotiations on a bill that would impose new sanctions on Russia both before and after it potentially invades Ukraine. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the Democratic chair of the chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee, said Feb. 1 that he plans to meet soon with Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the committee’s top Republican, to finalize the bill.
Lawmakers submitted a host of amendments to the House’s recently released China competition bill, including measures that would introduce new export controls and sanctions authorities and requirements. One submission, a 115-page amendment from Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, would create more congressional oversight of the Commerce Department’s emerging and foundational technology control effort and calls for expanded export restrictions against Chinese military companies.
The U.S. needs to more aggressively monitor transactions that aren't reported to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., said Nazak Nikakhtar, former acting head of the Bureau of Industry and Security. Nikakhtar, speaking during a Jan. 27 panel discussion hosted by China Tech Threat, said that the transfer of technologies to China, particularly semiconductor production equipment, has allowed it to outpace America in hypersonic missiles and has “placed the U.S. and the world in incredible jeopardy.”
After a thermal imaging industry official this week said the Commerce Department hasn’t significantly updated its export controls surrounding infrared technologies since 2005 (see 2201260047), an agency spokesperson pointed to two recent regulatory actions that they said have updated controls.
The Commerce Department’s Sensors and Instrumentation Technical Advisory Committee submitted three Wasseanar proposals to Commerce to consider for the 2022 cycle, including two updates to previously submitted proposals. The proposals, which involve Category 6 items (sensors and lasers) on the Commerce Control List, include diode laser bar controls (6A005.d.1.c.1), an updated proposal for green lasers (6.A.5.b.3.a.2) and an updated proposal for certain semiconductor lasers (6.A.5.d.1.a), the committee said during a Jan. 25 meeting.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should update its export controls surrounding infrared technologies to allow U.S. companies to better compete with foreign firms, said Mike Muench, CEO of Seek Thermal, a thermal imaging company. Muench, speaking during a Jan. 25 meeting of the Commerce Department’s Sensors and Instrumentation Technical Advisory Committee, said BIS hasn’t “significantly” updated its infrared technology controls since 2005, when the infrared sector was dramatically different. “That was several generations ago, relatively speaking, in the technology space,” Muench said. “We really believe it's time for us to address some of these changes to allow U.S. firms to be more competitive.”
All 14 of the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee are telling colleagues in their chamber that providing a $12,500 incentive to purchase union-made, U.S.-assembled electric vehicles will spur foreign retaliation against American auto exports. The House version of Build Back Better offers a $7,500 refundable tax credit for any electric vehicle purchase -- the same amount as current law, but makes it refundable and does not phase it out for leading manufacturers. Currently, Tesla and General Motors vehicles are no longer eligible for the credits. But in order to receive $12,500, the car or truck would need to include a U.S.-assembled battery and be made by union workers in the United States.
With the exit of Rep. Devin Nunes of California to a new social media company, Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee shuffled subcommittee leadership positions. Rep. Adrian Smith of Nebraska will be the new ranking member for the Trade Subcommittee, Ways and Means ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said.
The Senate Banking Committee Jan. 19 approved the nominations of four Export-Import Bank officials and one official with the Commerce Department’s Foreign Commercial Service. The committee advanced all five for consideration before the full Senate: Reta Jo Lewis, for president of Ex-Im; Judith Pryor, for first vice president of Ex-Im; Owen Herrnstadt, for member of Ex-Im’s board of directors; Parisa Salehi, for Ex-Im inspector general; and Arun Venkataraman, for assistant secretary of Commerce and director general of the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is investigating a Chinese investment in California-based Icon Aircraft after receiving allegations that the aircraft manufacturer may be transferring sensitive technology to China, The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 18. CFIUS began the review in late November after receiving a memo from a group of Icon’s American shareholders, the report said. In the memo, the shareholders said a Chinese company, Shanghai Pudong Science and Technology Investment Co. (PDSTI), has been “installing board members and executives, pressuring others and laying plans to transfer Icon’s technology to China.” In addition to CFIUS, the FBI opened a separate criminal probe and is investigating potentially illegal technology transfers from Icon to China, the report said. Icon said its aircraft don’t have military applications and the company “doesn’t see PDSTI’s investment as a national-security concern,” according to the report. The company also told the WSJ that it expects the CFIUS review to be completed at the end of February. A spokesperson for the Treasury Department, which chairs CFIUS, declined to comment. The FBI and Icon didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.