Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., reiterated his call Sept. 17 for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to schedule Senate floor consideration of the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which the Senate Armed Services Committee marked up in June (see 2407300041). Senators have filed hundreds of potential amendments to the NDAA, including measures to improve export control management and restrict foreign investment (see 2407180045). Republicans accuse Democrats of delaying the NDAA to prevent controversial social issues from coming up before the November elections.
House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., urged the Treasury Department this week to expand the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to include land purchases near Coast Guard facilities, Energy Department national laboratories, maritime ports and critical energy and telecommunications infrastructure.
President Joe Biden formally directed his administration last week to implement several new sanctions-related laws, including one aimed at Iranian oil exports.
Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced a bill Sept. 12 that would require the Commerce, Defense and Treasury departments to notify each other when adding a foreign entity or person to an export control or sanctions list. The proposed Sanctions Lists Harmonization Act is intended to improve coordination among the agencies and “prevent bad actors, such as Communist China, Russia and Iran, from taking advantage of a disjointed policy,” Rubio said. The measure, which was referred to the Senate Banking Committee, is a companion to a bill the House passed Sept. 9 (see 2409100024).
Sen. George Helmy, D-N.J., who formally took office Sept. 9, has joined the Senate Foreign Relations, Banking and Finance committees, according to his initial website. Helmy was appointed to temporarily fill the Senate seat of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who resigned from the chamber last month (see 2407240056). Helmy's new tenure will be short, as he is not running in the November election to replace Menendez.
Congress should consider encouraging greater use of export controls and sanctions to counter a recent surge in the repression of political dissent abroad, hearing witnesses told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week.
The Biden administration is “developing additional potential sanctions” that it could impose on leaders of Sudan’s two warring parties if they continue to resist participating in peace talks, a State Department official said Sept. 11.
Indonesia opened a safeguard investigation Sept. 9 covering polyethylene containing 5% or less alpha-olefin monomers in other than liquid/paste form, it told the World Trade Organization Sept. 11. Parties wishing to submit comments on the proceeding should submit a written request to do so within 15 days from the date of initiation to the investigating authority, the Indonesian Safeguards Committee said.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., introduced legislation this week that would limit American outbound investment in Chinese technology and give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. more power to police Chinese investment in the U.S.
The Biden administration opposes a House bill that would permanently add the agriculture secretary to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review agricultural transactions (see 2409050011), the White House Office of Management and Budget said Sept. 11.