Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the United States will provide $250 million in aid to Egypt following President Mohamed Morsi's promise to move forward on negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over economic reforms. Congress has ...

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke to the Senate this week on his recent trip to Bahrain. He emphasized Bahrain's status as a close ally of the United States and expressed hope that the Government of Bahrain will abide by the ...

Two weeks ago, the subcommittees for the Senate Appropriations Committee were released to the public. Of note is the State, Foreign Operations subcommittee, which consists of Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senator Mary ...

King Abdullah swore in Saudi Arabia's first female members of the Shura Council on Tuesday. One fifth of the new Shura Council is comprised of women, with a total of 30 female members.  The Council is remodeling its ...

On Thursday, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) circulated a Dear Colleague letter seeking co-sponsors for H.R.416, a bill she introduced on January 25. The "Egypt Accountability and Democracy Promotion Act" would "condition security assistance and economic assistance to the Government of ...

The Senate voted on Thursday to table an amendment to the debt limit bill that would have halted the sale of tanks and fighter planes to Egypt. The amendment, sponsored by Rand Paul (R-KY), sought "to prohibit the sale, lease, transfer, ...

Representative Ted Deutch (D-FL) won the ranking member spot on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa in an unexpected maneuver on Tuesday. Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA), the third ranking Democrat on the committee, ...

A group of US Senators including  John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Kirsten Gillibrand, (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Christopher Coons, (D-DE) arrived in Egypt on Tuesday to meet with senior government officials, including President ...

Photo Credit:  AP/EduardoVerdugo Former House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) has been named to lead the new Middle East and North Africa subcommittee, and will be replaced as Foreign Affairs chairperson by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA).  Ros-Lehtinen, the ...

On January 4, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)  introduced a bill, "Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should provide, on an annual basis, an amount equal to at least one percent of United States gross domestic product (GDP) for nonmilitary ...

Josh Rogin reports on the new lineup in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the new Congress that opened Thursday, with Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) taking over for Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) as the ranking Republican. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has taken a ...

United States Ambassador to Lebanon, Maura Connelly, met with Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri to discuss the upcoming elections in Lebanon, which are currently scheduled for June 2013. Connelly said the U.S. supports "efforts to implement an ...

At a Foreign Relations Committee briefing to discuss findings of the Accountability Review Board report on the September 11 Benghazi attack, Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns lamented that "we have to do better." Also speaking at ...

An independent review board released a report on the Benghazi attack of September 11, 2012 that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens. The report placed blame on "systematic State Department management and leadership failures for gross security lapses." The report also found however, ...

On December 13, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa lifted (Ar.) a ban on demonstrations, saying he considers demonstrations and freedom of expression to be a "constitutional right for all citizens." In response, thousands of opposition supporters participated in ...