The Biden administration should better use sanctions to convince the Mexican government to take stronger actions against drug cartels, Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote in a June 21 letter to the Treasury and State departments. The lawmakers, led by Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the committee’s top Republican, said Mexico has turned a “blind eye” toward its cartels, and the Biden administration should sanction state and local Mexican officials “who directly support or enable" them.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate this week could allow the U.S. to better target sanctions evasion by rewarding information leading to the arrest or conviction of evaders. The Sanctions Evasion Whistleblower Rewards Act, introduced in part by Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, would expand the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program to offer rewards for “information about the identity or location of individuals and entities that defy sanctions imposed” by the U.S. or the U.N., the lawmakers said.

House Select Committee on China Chair Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., is asking the Commerce Department for export licensing information involving Chinese companies with ties to Beijing’s expanding “signals intelligence” presence in Cuba. In a June 20 letter to Commerce and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Gallagher said China’s reported effort to expand its military and spy facilities in Cuba (see 2306130062) is likely being “aided” by Chinese telecommunications companies, including those that have violated U.S. export controls to acquire American intellectual property.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and the committee's top Republican, Mike Crapo of Idaho, asked President Joe Biden to press India on an array of trade irritants for U.S. exporters, including sanitary and phytosanitary restrictions that discriminate against growers, restrictions on biotechnology, and high tariffs on agriculture imports, including "apples, blueberries, cherries, dairy, nuts, pears, chickpeas, lentils, potatoes, and alcoholic beverages."

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., introduced a bill last week that could lead to new sanctions against people or entities tied to “forced organ harvesting” in China. The text of the bill, which so far has seven additional Republican co-sponsors, wasn’t yet available.

The Treasury Department should “assess” whether the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. has the jurisdiction to review the Saudi-backed LIV Golf’s purchase of the PGA Tour, two Democrats said in a June 16 letter to Treasury Secretary Yellen. Sen. Sherrod Brown, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, and Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said that if CFIUS has jurisdiction over the deal, the committee should “resolve any national security risks related to the transaction.”

The chairmen of the House Small Business Committee and the House Select Committee on China are asking for a detailed briefing by the end of June on DOJ's efforts to combat Chinese intellectual property theft.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate this week could lead to new sanctions against “foreign persons” committing human rights violations against “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) individuals.” The bill was introduced June 13 by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and so far has seven co-sponsors. The text wasn’t yet available at deadline.

Lawmakers reintroduced a bipartisan bill in the Senate and House this week that could help the U.S. use sanctioned Russian assets to assist with Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts. The Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act also would block the release of sanctioned Russian funds until Moscow withdraws from Ukraine and agrees to provide compensation for the damage it caused, and it also would give the State Department more resources to coordinate with allies about confiscating Russian assets.

Lawmakers in the Senate and House this week reintroduced a bill that could require the Commerce Department to block exports of sensitive personal data to certain high-risk countries (see 2306010042). The Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Surveillance Act, originally introduced during the last Congress, would also look to restrict personal data exports by firms, such as TikTok, “directly to restricted foreign governments, to parent companies in restricted foreign countries” and to parties designated on Commerce’s Entity List. Export penalties would apply to “senior executives who knew or should have known that employees below them were directed to illegally export Americans’ personal data.”