The Bureau of Industry and Security should increase its enforcement of semiconductor export controls to prevent American-made computing chips from ending up in Russian weapons and Chinese artificial intelligence systems, the Democratic majority staff of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a new report released this week.
The House Select Committee on China’s fentanyl policy working group unveiled three bipartisan bills Dec. 17 to counter China’s role as the world’s leading supplier of precursor chemicals for fentanyl.
The outbound investment legislation that lawmakers agreed Dec. 17 to include in a newly unveiled continuing resolution (CR) (see 2412170063) would expand upon the Biden administration’s August 2023 executive order (see 2308090066) by covering more artificial intelligence models and by adding hypersonic and related aerospace technologies.
Several lawmakers have urged the Biden administration to ease sanctions on Syria in light of the overthrow of the Assad regime by rebel forces.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said Dec. 17 that lawmakers have forged a compromise on legislation to restrict U.S. outbound investment in China.
The Biden administration has no plans to alter its policy toward Cuba during its final weeks in office, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a congressional panel last week.
The U.S. and its allies should increase their scrutiny of China's foreign investment in commercial remote sensing firms to ensure the Chinese military does not benefit from such transactions, the congressionally mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in a new report Dec. 16.
The U.S. government should dramatically increase the number of Cuban officials who are sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said Dec. 11.
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.