On Tuesday, May 7, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing for the nominations of the Honorable Deborah Kay Jones and Ambassador James Knight as ambassadors to Libya and the Republic of Chad, respectively. Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) presided. For full hearing notes, continue reading or click here for a PDF. Senator Menendez reminded the committee of the increasing strategic importance of the Maghreb and Sahel to America’s long-term security interests, as ...

The United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs questioned Secretary of State John Kerry at the FY14 Department of State Budget Hearing on Thursday. Subcommittee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) presided. For full event notes continue reading or click here for the PDF. In Senator Leahy's opening statement, submitted for the record, he said that, "We do not want a Democratic foreign policy or a Republican ...

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on the proposed FY2014 International Affairs budget titled “National Security and Foreign Policy Priorities in the FY2014 International Affairs Budget.” Secretary of State John Kerry testified and Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) presided. For full event notes continue reading or click here for the PDF. Senator Menendez opened the hearing by reminding the committee of the importance of America’s international leadership despite budgetary constraints. ...

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing titled “U.S. Policy Toward Syria” with testimony provided by U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, State Department Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Jones, and Treasury Department Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Daniel Glaser. Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) presided. For full event notes continue reading, or click here for the PDF. Senator Menendez stated that the purpose ...

On Tuesday, March 19, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Near East and South and Central Asian Affairs held a hearing titled “Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis.” The witnesses were divided into three panels. Panel 1 consisted of the Honorable Anne C. Richard, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, and the Honorable Nancy Lindborg, Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at the U.S. Agency for ...

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a confirmation hearing on Thursday (1/24) for Senator John Kerry's (D-MA) nomination to the post of U.S. Secretary of State. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the committee chairman, presided. For full event notes continue reading, or click here for the PDF. Senator Menendez opened by paying tribute to Senator Kerry’s 29-year membership on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and his work fighting terrorism, supporting HIV/AIDS efforts, and ...

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on Thursday (12/20) entitled “Benghazi: The Attack and the Lessons Learned.” The hearing featured testimony by William Burns, Deputy Secretary of State, and Thomas Nides, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, with Senator John Kerry (D-MA) presiding. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was originally scheduled to appear, but was unable to attend due to illness. For full notes continue reading, or ...

On Wednesday the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the conflict in Syria and how the U.S. should or should not respond. Witnesses included the Honorable Martin Indyk, Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy for the Brookings Institution; the Honorable James Dobbins, Director of International Security and Defense Policy Center for the Rand Corporation; and Andrew Tabler, Senior Fellow in the Program on Arab Politics at the ...

On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing to discuss U.S. policy options for Syria amid the recent developments of the deployment of U.N. monitors, a fragile ceasefire, and a continued humanitarian crisis. Presenting testimony was Professor of Middle East Studies at the NESA Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University Murhaf Jouejati, Director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic ...

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on U.S. foreign policy options pertaining to Iran. The speakers were the Honorable Thomas R. Pickering, former under Secretary of State for political affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, General James E. Cartwright, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Mr. Karim Sadjadpour, senior associate at the Middle East Program Carnegie Endowment for International ...

On Wednesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing to discuss the Syrian crisis. The Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and Ranking Member John McCain (R-AZ) gave opening statements. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey were the witnesses. For the full text of the hearing notes, continue reading below, or click here for the PDF Carl Levin, who described Bashar Al Assad’s ...

On Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee heard testimony from Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford. The hearing addressed the growing concerns over developing events in Syria. Senator John Kerry (D – MA) presided over the committee, co-chaired by ranking member Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN). To read the full text of the hearing continue reading below, or click here for ...

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing to present Ambassador-designate to the Kingdom of Bahrain The Honorable Thomas C. Krajeski, Ambassador-designate to Luxembourg Robert A. Mandell, Ambassador-designate to the People's Republic of Bangladesh The Honorable Dan W. Mozena, and the nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Michael A. Hammer. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) presided over the hearing, and John Barrasso (R-WY) and James ...

On Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Wendy R. Sherman for the position of Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) chaired the hearing, which gave committee members the opportunity to question the Ambassador on a wide range of issues including her thoughts on potential budget cuts and its impact on the State Department's mission, the upcoming UN vote ...

On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a nomination hearing for five ambassadors to the Middle East and Central Asia. The first of the hearing’s two panels featured the Honorable Anne W. Patterson, to be Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt. The second panel featured Michael H. Corbin, to be Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Matthew H. Tueller, to be Ambassador to the State of Kuwait, ...

On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a nomination hearing for William J. Burns to become Deputy Secretary of State. The hearing was presided over by Committee Chairman Senator John Kerry (D-MA) with Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jib Webb (D-VA), Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-PA), Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Marco Rubio (R-FL) in attendance. William J. Burns is a career foreign service officer and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and ...

On Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs held a hearing entitled “Human Rights and Democratic Reform in Iran.”  Senator Robert P. Casey (D-PA) chaired the committee hearing, Senators James Risch (R-ID), Tom Udal (D-NM) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) were also present. Assistant Secretary of State Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Michael H. Posner; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State ...

On Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs held an open hearing to discussFY2012 budget appropriations to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).  The Committee —Chaired by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and with Senators Ronald Johnson (R-WI), Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) in attendance – requested the testimony of Dr. Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator. For full notes, continue below.  For pdf version, ...