House Re-Passes Bill to Sanction Chinese Firms for Fentanyl Roles
The House approved several export control and sanctions bills late Sept. 2, including two aimed at China.
The Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act, which also received House approval in the last Congress, would authorize the administration to sanction Chinese chemical companies and government officials who don't do appropriate compliance and oversight to prevent their chemicals from being sold to narcotraffickers (see 2503070005 and 2501290060).
The Undersea Cable Control Act, which the House also passed in the last Congress, would require the administration to develop a strategy to block China and other “foreign adversaries” from buying goods and technologies to build, maintain or operate undersea cables (see 2504040009).
The other bills include:
- International Traffic in Arms Regulations Licensing Reform Act, which would require the State Department to develop a list of countries that should receive expedited decision-making under the Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) defense export licensing process (see 2507020028)
- Made-In-America Defense Act, which would direct the State Department to review annually whether any defense exports available through the Foreign Military Sales program but not DCS should become eligible for the more flexible DCS process (see 2504040003)
- AUKUS Reform for Military Optimization and Review Act, or Armor Act, which would clarify that the expedited export license review process under AUKUS also applies to reexports, retransfers, temporary imports and brokering activities (see 2506300048)
- Block the Use of Transatlantic Technology in Iranian Made Drones Act, which would require the Commerce Department to develop a strategy to supplement existing drone-related sanctions against Iran (see 2504040003)
- Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act, which would sanction Haitian political and economic elites involved in criminal activity (see 2504040038).
All seven bills were approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee earlier this year (see 2504090052 and 2507220078). They now head to the Senate for its consideration.