More than 100 Senate and House members this week asked the Biden administration to explain the steps it’s taking to address Hamas’ and other terrorist groups’ use of cryptocurrency to raise money and evade sanctions. In an Oct. 17 bipartisan letter to the Treasury Department and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, the lawmakers pointed to reports that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad collectively raised over $130 million in crypto between August 2021 and June 2023, and asked if the administration needs more tools to “address the national security threats posed by illicit use of crypto by terrorist organizations.”

The leaders of the House Select Committee on China are seeking information from venture capital company Sequoia on its investments in Chinese technology companies after the company announced it planned to split from its Chinese affiliate by March. In an Oct. 17 letter sent to Sequoia executives, Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., said that even though the company’s split from Sequoia Capital China is a “step in the right direction,” questions remain about whether the move will “staunch future flows of American capital to problematic” Chinese companies.

The Biden administration should remove Gareth Joyce, the CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Proterra, from the President’s Export Council, said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., citing Proterra’s bankruptcy filing in August. “It is unclear why Joyce, having overseen the failure of Proterra, should continue to advise you on issues of such great importance to our nation’s economic security and wellbeing,” Barrasso said.

Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., one of the less hawkish members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, bemoaned the fact that the original title of the committee, which talked about strategic competition, has been forgotten.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he spoke candidly with Chinese President Xi Jinping on a trip to Shanghai, saying China needs to stop unfair treatment of U.S. firms with operations in China.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is asking the Biden administration to strengthen the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP), concerned that the aim has moved from an on-paper agreement to a mere forum.

A large group of House members, including some of the most powerful Republicans in the chamber, are asking the U.S. trade representative to tell the EU to designate the U.S. as a "low-risk" country under its new deforestation-free regulation. Exporters of wood products must be in compliance with the law beginning Jan. 1, 2025.

House Republicans introduced a bill this week that would ask the Office of the Trade Representative and USDA to set up a task force to dismantle tariff and non-tariff barriers to agricultural exports. The legislation, called the Prioritizing Offensive Agricultural Disputes and Enforcement Act, is a companion to a Senate bill (see 2309280066).

The Biden administration should sanction former Ecuador President Rafael Correa for his involvement in corruption and human rights violations, Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said in a Oct. 2 letter to the White House. They said Congress is “pursuing bipartisan legislative efforts to deepen bilateral relations with Ecuador, and Biden “should reinforce these bipartisan measures by immediately holding [Correa] accountable.” The lawmakers, led by Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the committee’s top Republican, also said Correa makes “frequent trips to meet with U.S.-sanctioned officials of the narco-terrorist regime in Venezuela.” The White House didn’t comment.

A bipartisan group of 72 House members and 22 senators is asking the Biden administration to use the Magnitsky Act to hold Azerbaijani officials accountable for what they called "the ongoing human rights crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh."