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Washington, DC – Ahead of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) testimony tomorrow in the Senate Banking Committee and next Tuesday in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Lead Republican Michael McCaul has released the following statement.

“BIS owes the House Foreign Affairs Committee multiple responses, as legally required, on export control license approvals and denials to Chinese companies that have been blacklisted. Before Under Secretary Estevez’s appearance in the Senate tomorrow and in the House next week, I would like to strongly suggest he make good on his commitment to work constructively with Congress by providing this long overdue data immediately. In his first post-confirmation congressional hearings, I expect in-depth, concrete responses, including how he will implement significantly overdue counter China portions of the Export Control Reform Act like the emerging and foundational technology controls list.”  

BACKGROUND

Last year, the House Foreign Affairs Committee took bipartisan action to disclose aggregated data on licensing outcomes for Huawei and SMIC. Huawei and SMIC are currently sanctioned by the U.S. government for acting contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. However, despite being blacklisted, less than 1% of license applications for these companies were denied and $100 billion worth of applications were approved.