Foreign Policy

A bipartisan group of senators on Thursday went to the Senate floor to call on President Obama to take tougher action against Syrian President Bashar al Assad, including arming his opposition and possibly missile strikes.

In a colloquy, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) all said Obama should put military pressure on the Syrian regime by arming rebel groups fighting the Assad regime.

Graham and McCain have long been hawkish on Syria, but the pressure from Levin and Menendez points to growing support in Congress for tougher actions against Syria.

McCain even suggested that the U.S. could use precision strikes to target Syria's ballistic missiles and chemical weapons.

"The Republic of Korea will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea," President Park Geun-hye told Congress.

President Obama on Tuesday told Congress he is extending the imposition of sanctions against Syria for another year — they were due to expire on May 11.

In a notice to Congress, Obama said Syria has reduced the facilitation of foreign fighters into Iraq, it's ongoing civil war against Syrian civilians means the sanctions will continue.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) on Monday called on Congress to pass legislation withholding aid to Pakistan until a doctor who helped the U.S. find Osama bin Laden is freed from a Pakistani prison.

Rohrabacher was responding to new reports that the next appeal hearing for Dr. Shakil Afridi will be postponed until June. In addition to starving Pakistan of foreign aid funding, Rohrabacher also called on the Obama administration to withdraw the U.S. ambassador from Pakistan.

Three Cuban-American House members said Friday they were “deeply disturbed” by the State Department's decision to grant a visa to Mariela Castro, daughter of President Raul Castro and niece of his brother Fidel. Read more...

A bipartisan group of 14 senators told the Obama administration that it should fight a recent decision by the European Commission (EC) to impose an anti-dumping duty on U.S. ethanol exports.

The senators, led by John Thune (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), wrote a letter to acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis and acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank on Tuesday urging them to challenge the EC’s decision at the World Trade Organization.

Three Cuban-Americans lawmakers wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry to press him to keep Cuba on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The State Department is mandated by law to provide Congress by April 30 of each year an updated report on terrorism around the word. Cuba is one of four countries currently on the list, along with Syria, Iran and Sudan.

The letter was spearheaded by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and signed by Reps. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.). The only other Cuban-American in the House, Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.), did not sign on to the letter but also supports keeping Cuba on the list and is drafting his own letter to Kerry, The Hill has learned.

The Obama administration should make progress on human rights a “central part” of U.S.-Mexican relations, a bipartisan group of 24 lawmakers said Friday ahead of President Obama's trip next week.

The letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, spearheaded by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), comes as President Enrique Peña Nieto has vowed to ensure that “rights established on paper become reality.” The State Department is withholding $18 million in security assistance pending progress on human rights, and the lawmakers urged Kerry to keep the cuts in place until the country shows an increase in the number of official abuse allegations that are prosecuted.

“Now is an opportune moment to work with the Mexican government to improve the situation in that country,” wrote the lawmakers. “We are encouraged by President Enrique Peña Nieto’s strong statements affirming his commitment to human rights and we believe they provide the United States with an important opening to raise our concerns with the Mexican government. We believe that a measurable increase in the number of cases of abuses that are investigated and prosecuted in civilian jurisdiction should be a key benchmark by which the State Department assesses the progress made by the Peña Nieto government on human rights.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Thursday urged all members of the House to attend a classified briefing from the Obama administration on the apparent use of chemical weapons by Syria.

"Today, the administration has confirmed that the Assad regime in Syria has crossed a dangerous, game-changing red line, using chemical weapons against its own citizens," Cantor told members on the House floor.

"The Syrian conflict has raged for many months, and nearly a hundred thousand Syrian civilians have been killed," he said. "The conflict now threatens to spill over Syria's borders, destabilizing key American allies.

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Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) is demanding that President Obama personally intervene to have the United Nations fire an American official who described the Boston bombings as “blowback” for the “American global domination project."

Richard Falk, a controversial Princeton professor who serves as the U.N.'s special rapporteur for Palestinian issues, made the remarks in an essay for Foreign Policy Journal. Obama's ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, tweeted in response that she was “outraged” by the “highly offensive” comments. 

“Someone who spews such vitriol has no place at the U.N.,” she said. “Past time for him to go.”