Foreign Policy

Republicans have said they fear Obama's hot-mic remarks indicate he is working on some secret arrangement with the Russians.

Sen. John McCain decried as a "specious" attack GOP lawmakers' claims that Huma Abedin is connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The House passed legislation Tuesday evening that authorizes the State Department, the Peace Corps, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors for 2013.

The bill, H.R. 6018, would mark the first time Congress has authorized State Department functions in more than 10 years. The bill was brought up under a suspension of House rules and passed easily in a 333-61 vote.

The House late Tuesday afternoon approved legislation by voice vote that reaffirms U.S. strategic and military ties with Israel. 

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) announced Monday evening that more than one third of the Senate is now on the record as opposing the Law of the Sea treaty in the United Nations, making it impossible for the Senate to approve the treaty by the needed two-thirds vote.

"Something isn't going to happen this year," he said on the floor. "It could be they want to bring it up, certainly it's up to the leader. But if it does come up, it's going to take an awful lot of time from other business that this body is supposed to be addressing."

The House is looking to approve legislation this week that would authorize the State Department and the U.S. Foreign Service for the first time in a decade.

The Foreign Relations Authorization Act, H.R. 6018, mostly authorizes spending at current levels, but the bill also gave the House Foreign Affairs Committee a chance to make specific policy changes, including authorizing some activities that already exist, without explicit congressional approval.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday congratulated Libya for holding its first free election after the death of former leader Moammar Gadhafi, and said it represents an "important step on Libya's democratic journey."

"This is a historic day for the people of Libya," said McCain, who observed the elections from Tripoli on Saturday. "After 42 years of darkness and cruelty under Qaddafi, and after nine months of brutal fighting and sacrifice to liberate their great nation, Libyans have now elected their own leaders and continued to determine their own destiny."

McCain reported that Libya's High National Elections Commission confirmed that 94 percent of Libya's polling places were open as planned, but noted some incidents of violence that kept some polling places closed. He also noted that one election worker was killed, but nonetheless called the elections, in which Libyans voted for a 200-seat General National Congress, a success.

Sen. Sherrod Brown said American flags that fly from federal buildings "may be up to fifty percent foreign-made."

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and other House Republicans have proposed legislation aimed at preventing Iran from accessing financial support in the Western Hemisphere.

Ros-Lehtinen has already sponsored several bills that tighten sanctions against Iran, and got one of them passed in the House, along with an Iran resolution. But her new bill is an attempt to organize U.S. neighbors for the purpose of denying Iran any safe haven in the Western Hemisphere.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday's ruling that found parts of Arizona's immigration law unconstitutional shows that Congress needs to lead on immigration reform rather than the states.

"The Supreme Court offered yet another affirmation that a long-term fix for a broken immigration system must come from Congress, and not from the states," Reid said on the Senate floor.