To counter Hezbollah’s drug trafficking and other extensive illegal money-raising efforts in Latin America, the U.S. should encourage more countries in the region to designate the Lebanon-based group a terrorist organization, a former State Department official told lawmakers Oct. 21.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill Oct. 21 that would direct the Commerce Department to lead a review of challenges posed by Chinese foreign investment in the U.S. (see 2508010044).

Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the top Democrat on a Russian secondary sanctions bill, said he's not discouraged that Senate Majority Leader John Thune is putting off a vote on the bill again. The bill has 85 sponsors in the Senate, and would give the president the ability to put up to 500% tariffs on the goods of countries that buy Russian fossil fuels; it also would expand sanctions on Russian officials.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., urged the Treasury Department Oct. 15 to use the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review reports that China-based investors are buying Southern California land ravaged by January wildfires.

A bipartisan group of 27 House members, including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Emeritus Michael McCaul, R-Texas, called on President Donald Trump Oct. 17 to impose “forceful new joint sanctions” on Russia and countries that buy its oil, to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine.

House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said Oct. 16 that he welcomes Senate passage of a bill last week to restrict U.S. outbound investment in China.

Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Rick Crawford, R-Ark., reintroduced a bill Oct. 14 that would prohibit China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from buying or controlling agricultural land and businesses in the U.S. The Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS) Act was referred to the House Financial Services, Foreign Affairs and Energy and Commerce committees. The lawmakers previously introduced the measure in the last Congress.

Five senators, including leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Oct. 15 that they welcome the Trump administration’s decision to allow a sanctions license for Serbia’s majority-Russian-owned oil company, NIS, to lapse this month. Russia uses energy to commit economic coercion in Europe and sustain its war against Ukraine, said a joint statement from Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and others. They also said that Russia’s stake in the company undermines Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s goal of joining the EU.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., urged the Commerce Department this week to investigate allegations that Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed helped Chinese firms evade U.S. export controls on sensitive Nvidia chips.

A bipartisan group of 25 senators told a Taiwan official Oct. 7 that they will continue to support U.S. arms sales to his country to ensure it “has the asymmetric capabilities it requires to deter Chinese aggression.”