The Biden administration hopes that new export controls and sanctions against Russia's war machine suppliers, including China, will spur Beijing to rethink its support for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, a State Department official said June 26.
A bipartisan group of five lawmakers urged congressional leaders in a June 25 letter to schedule House and Senate floor time on a bill that would allow Ukraine to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in Russian assets forfeited due to export control or sanctions violations.
The House Appropriations Committee on June 25 unveiled a FY 2025 Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Bill that would provide $186.7 million to the Bureau of Industry and Security, $4.3 million below the FY 2024 enacted level and $36.7 million below President Joe Biden’s budget request.
The State Department recently launched an informal, voluntary network for the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) security partnership to share information with stakeholders who are outside the traditional defense industry, an agency official said June 21.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and three other Republican senators have introduced a bill that would require the president to notify Congress before pausing arms deliveries to Israel, Risch’s office announced June 21.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., announced June 20 that they are introducing a bill to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control urged a federal court late last month to dismiss the sole remaining claim in a lawsuit challenging the agency’s sanctioning of two former Afghan government officials for corruption.
The Federal Maritime Commission launched an investigation on whether ocean carriers are complying with a recent decision giving motor carriers the right to choose their chassis providers in four U.S. markets. The probe could lead to penalties against carriers, the commission said.
The House of Representatives last week approved a proposal that would require the administration to report to Congress on how proceeds from illicit Iranian oil exports are funding Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Tehran’s terrorist proxies.
The Group of Seven (G7) nations agreed last week at their summit in Apulia, Italy, to use interest from frozen Russian assets to finance about $50 billion in loans to Ukraine.