The House Republican steering committee selected Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., Dec. 12 to become chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in January. Hill will replace Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., who is retiring from the House. The committee has played a key role in negotiations over legislation to restrict U.S. outbound investment in China.
In one of his last moves as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, retiring Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., introduced a wide-ranging China bill Dec. 11 that contains several sanctions, foreign investment and trade provisions.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., both said Dec. 12 that lawmakers continue to seek a compromise on legislation to restrict U.S. outbound investment in China.
Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., co-chair of the House Select Committee on China’s Critical Minerals Policy Working Group, has announced plans to introduce a bill that would restrict exports of two reusable materials: "black mass," a metal-rich mixture that comes from used lithium-ion batteries, and "swarf," metal debris produced during magnet manufacturing.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., who is slated to become chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in January (see 2412100008), said Dec. 10 that he envisions a greater role for the panel in overseeing State Department operations.
China appears to be preparing to use its own set of extraterritorial export controls against the U.S. in response to the Biden administration’s latest chip restrictions and Entity List additions, an official with the U.S.-China Business Council said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on a set of FAQs for its recently released China-related semiconductor export control rules (see 2412020016), which should clear up confusion about when certain new foreign direct product rule restrictions take effect and how they apply, a BIS official said this week.
House Republicans have chosen Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the next Congress.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., introduced a wide-ranging Hong Kong bill Dec. 9 that would, among other things, reauthorize the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act for five years.
The Census Bureau and the Bureau of Industry and Security are continuing to try to make progress on their long-awaited routed export rule, a Census official said this week.