Foreign Policy

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) on Thursday called on President Obama to get Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to explain Brazil's ties to Cuba, Palestine and Syria when he meets with Rousseff next week.

"If Brazil wishes to be viewed and treated as a responsible actor in our Hemisphere, its policies must reflect a commitment to the defense of human rights and democratic freedoms, to non-proliferation, and to countering other threats to global security and stability," she wrote in a letter to Obama.

Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) and a bipartisan group of 53 other House members called on President Obama late last week to ensure that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) invites Macedonia to the group during a planned May summit meeting in Chicago.

"We strongly urge your Administration to make sure that NATO finally offers the Republic of Macedonia its well-deserved formal invitation to join the Alliance during the Chicago Summit," they wrote. "It is our strong belief that an invitation to Macedonia to join the Alliance will benefit U.S. national security interests and NATO's global mission."

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) on Monday wrote Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to ask her to put more pressure on the government of Ecuador to return a fugitive wanted for a double-murder in Brockton, Mass.

Brown's letter followed his requests from May and July 2011 to press Ecuador to return Luis Guaman, who is wanted for the murder of Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela and her son Brian.

President Obama on Monday announced that he has removed Argentina as a developing country that can benefit from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, which allows for duty-free access to the U.S. market for imported goods.

Obama said it is appropriate to suspend Argentina from the program because that country has "not acted in good faith in enforcing arbital awards in favor of United States citizens or a corporation, partnership, or association that is 50 percent or more beneficially owned by United States citizens."

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) on Tuesday morning called on Pope Benedict XVI to meet with free-religion dissidents when he visits the island next week.

"It is my hope … that Pope Benedict will meet with these brave dissidents … and shine a light on the struggles of the Cuban people who are living under the rule of the oppressive Castro brothers," Ros-Lehtinen said on the House floor. "I urge the Catholic Church to express its support and solidarity with the internal peaceful opposition, and hear the voices of the dissidents who are yearning for freedom."

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) on Monday night announced on the House floor that he would join a new Sudan sanctions bill as a cosponsor, and credited efforts by actor George Clooney to call attention to the human rights violations in that country.

"I'm doing this… because it has been called to our attention that there are atrocities still taking place in Sudan," Green said on the floor. "People are suffering, people are dying, and there is a possibility of a humanitarian crisis developing.

The chair and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee have put forward legislation that would extend a loan guarantee program for Israel that the State Department's Inspector General (IG) has said should be allowed to expire.

Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Ranking Member Howard Berman (D-Calif.) proposed the legislation late last week, and said it would be a way to continue to show solidarity to Israel at a time when its security and economic prosperity is stressed.

The House on Monday afternoon will vote on legislation aimed at making it easier for foreign governments to lend works of art to be displayed in U.S. museums, without fear of having the artwork subjected to litigation once it enters the United States. But the bill to be voted on would exempt artwork stolen by Nazi Germany from these assurances.

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) introduced the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, H.R. 4086, in February. Chabot says his bill is meant to clarify the relationship between two existing laws that has made some foreign governments wary of temporarily exporting artwork to the United States.

Rep. Michele Bachmann and Sen. Rand Paul called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to keep Egypt from foreign aid.

The House next week is expected to pass legislation that would expand the ability of Israeli citizens to obtain U.S. entry visas for work-related purposes.

House Republicans plan a vote on H.R. 3992, a bill from House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Howard Berman (D-Calif.) that would make Israelis eligible for E-2 work visas.