"The need for this measure is more pressing now than ever before," Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, one of the bill's sponsors, told a news conference, citing the killings of civilians and other "brutal, cruel oppression" in Ukraine since Russia's invasion.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, another bill sponsor, said the designation would send a strong signal of support for Ukraine to Kyiv but also to U.S. allies, while imposing stiff penalties on Russia like allowing it to be sued in U.S. courts for its actions in Ukraine and tightening sanctions.

It was not immediately clear when or whether the measure might come up for a vote. But the two senators have been advocating for the designation for months, visiting Kyiv in July to promote it.

They have been joined by other lawmakers in voicing support for the idea. Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in July the designation was "long overdue."

Biden has said he does not plan such a designation for Russia. Administration officials say they do not feel that the designation is the most effective way to hold Russia accountable and that it could hinder deliveries of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

State Department spokesman Ned Price told a news briefing that the administration was discussing with lawmakers measures "analogous" to those that would be imposed on Russia's economy by the designation.

"We have to take into account the consequences, intended and unintended" by such a designation, he said. "We are engaging with Congress on tools that would continue to have analogous implications for the Russian economy, for the Russian government, that would not have those unintended consequences."

SpotOn is at the forefront of this transformation, empowering small businesses through modern technology to help them compete and win in the market. SpotOn offers an end-to-end, cloud-based tech stack for small business owners, including software to help process payments, market the business, pull reports, manage customer loyalty programs, manage customer reviews, and much more. SpotOn has significant advantages over legacy solutions, offering modern systems with features that allow SMBs to better serve their customers including online ordering, multi-location, and basic CRM solutions. Furthermore, the company is truly client-first with its sales and delivery model. They hire sales representatives from big coastal cities and small towns across the country to provide local, personalized support to all kinds of businesses, from the local diner, to the hair salon, to the plumber. 

Despite extraordinarily challenging conditions for small businesses over the last 15 months, SpotOn has more than tripled their business from pre-Covid to today. They made the right decisions for customers and future growth during the pandemic, including waiving fees for businesses required to temporarily close down, increasing their customer service offerings, hiring through the crisis, and shipping 400 product features and enhancements. And it’s paying off with happy customers and rapidly increasing new customer growth. 

If you open any biology text book, it will say that the genetic code is made up of 4 bases: Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine, or ATCG. But, back in 1977, scientists discovered a phage — the technical term a virus that infects bacteria — that encodes its genome in ZTCG. Z is a derivative of A that has an extra amino group tagged on, and while that may sound minor, it changes some of the key properties of DNA. These three new articles seek to understand how Z is made and how it is incorporated into DNA. This is essential information for taking Z from a weird, wild bio story into a practical application. The conversation covers what makes Z different than other bases, what these three articles reveal about the synthesis and polymerization of Z, and how we can use use Z in a wide range of applications, from bio-containment to new therapeutics to DNA storage.