Three Democratic senators urged the Trump administration March 24 to work with Congress if it needs more time to find a resolution that complies with a U.S. law requiring China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban on the popular social media application.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the Trump administration March 20 to consider further easing sanctions on Syria to help the war-torn country rebuild following last year’s fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Three House members announced March 21 that they have introduced a companion bill to Senate legislation that would restrict U.S. outbound investment in China.
Sponsors of a recently reintroduced House bill that could lead to sanctions on certain foreign telecommunications firms are looking into several potential avenues for getting the legislation passed, a congressional aide said March 21.
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said March 19 that a deal that allows ByteDance to retain control of TikTok would violate a U.S. law requiring the Chinese company to sell the popular social media application.
Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, announced March 18 that she has introduced a bill that would sanction Chinese police departments that operate or try to operate in the U.S. The Expel Illegal Chinese Police Act was referred to the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees. The legislation is a companion to a bill Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., reintroduced in January (see 2501100032).
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., announced March 17 that he has reintroduced a bill to require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review agricultural land purchases by certain foreign entities, including those from China and Russia. The Security and Oversight for International Landholdings Act also would broaden disclosure requirements for foreign purchases of U.S. farmland. The bill, which Lankford originally introduced in the last Congress, was referred to the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, introduced a bill March 14 that would subject foreign buyers of U.S. farmland to the same restrictions that their home countries impose on Americans.
Arkansas’ six-member congressional delegation urged the EU March 14 to revise its proposed deforestation reporting requirements (see 2412060050), saying they would unfairly burden U.S. exporters with technical barriers to trade.
The Senate Finance Committee voted 14-13 along party lines March 14 to approve Michael Faulkender as deputy treasury secretary, sending his nomination to the full Senate for its consideration. The vote came eight days after Faulkender testified before the committee on his nomination (see 2503060069). Faulkender was assistant treasury secretary for economic policy during the first Trump administration.