The leaders of the House Select Committee on China urged the Defense and Treasury departments on Jan. 4 to blacklist China-based Quectel Wireless Solutions, saying the manufacturer of Internet connectivity modules has troubling ties to the Chinese military.
The Market Choice Act, which would end fuel taxes while imposing a carbon tax, was reintroduced in the House of Representatives this month by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Salud Carbajal, D-Calif. The bill, an acronym for "Modernizing America with Rebuilding to Kickstart the Economy of the Twenty-first Century with a Historic Infrastructure-Centered Expansion Act," would require domestic producers to pay a price for carbon, and also would place a tariff on imports if those countries don't have equivalent carbon taxes. It would provide a rebate to manufacturing exporters and sectors that process ores, soda ash and phosphate. It wouldn't cover mining and fossil fuel extraction.
Seven Republican senators led by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced a bill this month aimed at countering the Commerce Department’s recent 90-day pause in issuing commercial firearms export licenses.
The Congressional Research Service issued an updated report this month on issues surrounding the congressional review process for U.S. arms sales, including information on which sales require notification to Congress, the various arms sale notification procedures in the Senate and House, and the ways Congress can try to reject certain arms sales. The report includes examples of recent arms sales -- including ones to Ukraine and Israel -- as well as instances in which Congress blocked certain sales.
Four lawmakers are urging the State Department to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials who offered bounties for the arrests of five Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living abroad, including two in the United States.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is urging the Commerce Department to block exports of chip design software to China’s Brite Semiconductor, which reportedly offers chip design services to six Chinese military suppliers (see 2312130020).
The Biden administration should develop a comprehensive sanctions strategy targeting the leaders of Sudan’s warring parties and those that supply the belligerents with arms, the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Dec. 19.
Four Republican leaders of the House Financial Services Committee on Dec. 18 urged the Biden administration to impose “comprehensive energy sanctions” on Russia, saying the existing price cap on Russian oil sales has failed to choke off revenue that Moscow uses to fund its war in Ukraine.
A group of 15 House and Senate members wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Dec. 18 asking whether the Department of Defense played a role in approving the export of U.S. technology to Chinese drone manufacturer Da Jiang Innovations (DJI).
Five Republican senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to re-designate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, citing the Yemen-based group’s recent attacks in the region.