The leaders of the House Select Committee on China said they will support a bipartisan bill introduced earlier this week that could expand the Treasury Department’s upcoming outbound investment prohibitions to cover more Chinese technology sectors and additional countries (see 2311140013).

Senate Republicans this week urged the Biden administration to reverse its decision to temporarily ease sanctions against Venezuela, saying the reprieve will “only further enable” the Nicolas Maduro-led regime’s crackdown on civil society and political opposition. “We implore you to reverse course and recommit to a strong campaign of diplomatic and economic pressure to hasten a transition to a democratic government in Venezuela,” the lawmakers, including Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a letter to the White House.

The EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization members should sanction Iranian airlines and refuse airport access to Iranian aircraft, Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, said in a resolution introduced this week. Noting the U.S. has sanctions in place against Mahan Air, Iran Air, Saha Airlines, Qeshm Air and Qeshm Fars Air, Self said some of those airlines reportedly operate in at least 24 airports across Eurasia, including in NATO and EU countries.

Senate and House Democrats sent a letter to the Energy Department this week urging the agency to rethink its approval process for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. More than 60 lawmakers said they are concerned the agency’s approach doesn’t “fully or accurately consider how LNG exports negatively impact the climate, environmental justice communities, or increase domestic energy prices” and asked DOE to begin a rulemaking to update its permit review process.

A House bill with bipartisan support would authorize funding for an "Iranian Sanctions Enforcement Fund," a body that would help DHS "pay expenses relating to seizures and forfeitures of property made with respect to" Iranian sanctions violations. The legislation would specifically authorize a one-time investment of $150 million for the fund, "which it is required to pay back within 10 years, adjusted for inflation," according to a November press release from Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, who introduced the bill with Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif.

The leaders of the Senate Finance Committee introduced a bill that would require USDA and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to produce annual reports identifying the acts, policies or practices that create significant barriers to exports of U.S. fruits and vegetables or distort their own markets so that U.S. fruits, vegetables, nuts and flowers cannot be competitive.

A new House bill with bipartisan support could expand the Treasury Department’s upcoming outbound investment prohibitions to cover more Chinese technology sectors and additional countries, including Russia, Iran and North Korea.

House Select Committee on China Republicans wrote to President Joe Biden, asking him to make human rights and military demands of Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which will happen Nov. 15-17.

The State Department should clarify that the U.S. will reimpose a range of sanctions against Venezuela's oil and gold sectors if the Nicolas Maduro-led regime doesn’t begin lifting electoral bans on opposition presidential candidates by the end of November, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in a letter to the agency this week.

Congress “must” move forward with a recently passed House bill that could lead to new sanctions on foreign ports and refineries that process or accept Iranian petroleum, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said. The House voted 342-69 to pass the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum Act last week (see 2311030066), and Rubio, who has introduced similar legislation in the Senate, said his chamber should do the same.