Senate Banking panel presses Commerce over BIS export control delays and Entity List slowdown

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Senate probes BIS export controls

Highlights

Senator Warren reports Bureau of Industry and Security average export license processing times increased to 62 days in 2025 from 38 days in 2023, with 20% fewer applications processed versus the 2019–2023 average.
BIS made no additions to the Entity List since October 9, 2025, and issued only four Federal Register updates in 2026, the lowest activity level in 24 years.
Warren highlights risks from BIS suspending the Affiliates Rule and rescinding the AI Diffusion Rule without replacement, potentially enabling high-end semiconductor exports to Beijing.

Warren seeks answers on export controls

As reported by Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, citing the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Warren has sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Under Secretary for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler over reports that the Bureau of Industry and Security is failing to carry out its mission.

Warren, the ranking member of the committee, says BIS has stopped issuing timely export control licenses, failed to meaningfully update the Entity List, and suspended or rescinded key regulations that could leave openings for foreign adversaries. She argues that the agency's activities appear to have slowed sharply under current leadership and says the issues require immediate attention.

In the letter, Warren says the Department of Commerce has lost roughly 20% of its staff, contributing to delays in routine BIS work. She points to average export license processing times of 62 days in 2025, up from 38 days in 2023, and says BIS processed 20% fewer export license applications in 2025 than the five-year average from 2019 to 2023.

Warren also says reports indicate Kessler may be contributing to the backlog by stalling applications to review large volumes of related documents. She is requesting detailed information on staff cuts, license applications and Entity List activity by August 12, 2026.

Security and semiconductor implications

Warren says BIS has made no additions to the Entity List since October 9, 2025, and has issued only four Federal Register updates in 2026, which she describes as the lowest level in 24 years. She says the lack of updates over more than nine months raises questions about whether critical U.S. technology is being diverted to actors seeking to harm the United States.

She also criticizes BIS for suspending the Affiliates Rule, which was designed to stop companies on the Entity List from bypassing export controls through partial ownership of third-party businesses. In addition, she says the agency rescinded the Biden administration's AI Diffusion Rule without yet putting a replacement in place.

That gap, Warren says, creates loopholes that recent reporting suggests may be allowing an unknown number of high-end semiconductors to reach Beijing. The dispute adds to broader pressure on Washington to tighten oversight of advanced technology exports as semiconductor controls remain central to U.S. industrial and security policy.

Our earlier article covered a bipartisan push by U.S. senators urging Apple to commit to excluding memory chips from China’s CXMT and YMTC from devices sold worldwide. Lawmakers argued that qualifying these components could heighten national security and supply-chain risks and pointed to existing U.S. restrictions, including rules tied to the Entity List and an upcoming federal procurement ban.

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