institutes reporting requirements to ensure greater Congressional oversight
Require reporting on export license review delays to increase Congressional oversight of BIS.
Occurrences
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this subsection, and not less frequently than quarterly thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report detailing the processing of license applications and other requests for authorization for the export, reexport, release, and in-country transfer of items controlled under this section.
Evidence
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The bill directs BIS to make licensing decisions within 90 days, institutes reporting requirements to ensure greater Congressional oversight, and directs the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct an audit of BIS's license review process.
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Meeks (for himself and Mr. Issa) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs ... To amend the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 to ensure expeditious processing of license applications, and for other purposes.
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My bill, H.R. 8289, will require export license applications to be reviewed within 90 days, and create greater transparency and accountability in this process.
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A PDF of the bill is available here.
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As ordered reported by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on April 22, 2026. H.R. 8289 would require BIS and the Government Accountability Office to report to Congress on the effectiveness of efforts to shorten the timeline for reviewing applications.
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Amendment 406, Version 1, sponsored by Meeks (NY) and Issa (CA), is listed as bipartisan and summarized as imposing a 90-day deadline on BIS licensing decisions and reflecting the text of H.R. 8289, which passed out of Committee with unanimous support. Its status is listed as Submitted, not Made in Order.
Assessments
Meeks introduced H.R. 8289, the BIS Licensing Efficiency Act of 2026, and the bill included BIS/GAO reporting to Congress on export license review timeliness. It advanced through House Foreign Affairs committee markup and was also attempted as an NDAA amendment, showing a serious same-term legislative effort. However, the record does not show enactment, House and Senate passage, or implementation of a binding reporting requirement, so the promised oversight requirement was not delivered.
Meeks clearly acted on the promise by introducing H.R. 8289 with language requiring reporting and transparency around BIS export license review delays, and the measure also advanced at least to committee markup. That shows meaningful effort and some procedural advancement tied directly to the promised oversight objective. However, the evidence provided does not show House passage, Senate passage, enactment, or otherwise binding implementation of the reporting requirement. Because the promised outcome was to require reporting, and the record only confirms introduction and committee-stage progress rather than completed adoption, this is best scored as partial rather than delivered.