BILL MANDATES MONITORING BELT AND ROAD: Sen. James Lankford today introduced legislation requiring every U.S. overseas embassy to designate an official to monitor local activities linked to China’s predatory lending program known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). One might wonder why the State Department has to be told by Congress to keep an eye on one of the major tools employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to expand Beijing’s world-wide totalitarian influence. But at least the Oklahoma Republican is doing something about it.