Foreign Policy

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify next week before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on President Obama's foreign policy budget proposals for 2013.

Committee Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) is likely to press Clinton on the administration's foreign policy priorities for Latin America, as the congresswoman said earlier this month she was disappointed in proposed changes for next year.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) last week proposed legislation that would broaden the State Department's current system of offering rewards for information leading to the arrest of terrorists or drug offenders so that it also covers information that helps lead to the arrest of people involved in global organized crime.

"Expanding this program to include global organized crime responds to the growing evidence that terrorists and insurgents are increasingly turning to criminal networks for funding and support, a topic my subcommittee has explored," said Royce, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade.

Two Democratic lawmakers are introducing legislation calling for further sanctions against Iran in an attempt to stop the country’s nuclear program.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) introduced similar bills Tuesday that would impose penalties against Iran’s National Iranian Tanker Co. and the National Iranian Oil Co. if they are affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The bills would also move the Treasury Department to investigate the two companies’ business relationship with the Revolutionary Guard.

The House meets at 9 a.m. to take up what will be the last bill introduced by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) before she steps down from Congress later this week.

Giffords, who attended last night's State of the Union address, has said today's vote will be her last act as a member before she retires to focus on recuperating from last year's shooting that nearly took her life.

Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) on Thursday called on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to strictly implement a new Iran sanctions law in a way that reduces the Middle Eastern nation’s oil sales as much as possible.

The Senate in December approved an amendment to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act offered by Menendez and Kirk that requires sanctions on financial institutions that do business with Iran’s central bank.

Several House members on Thursday called on the Obama administration to take a tougher line on human rights violations in Vietnam.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), ranking member Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and four other members wrote a four-page letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking for new details to be included in the State Department's upcoming human rights report.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on Thursday issued another warning against Iran's increasing ties to Latin America, this time calling for a closer look at whether Iran is trying to access uranium from Ecuador.

Her comments were the latest in a series meant to call attention to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to several Latin American countries this week.

"Over the last five years, Iran's economic investments in Ecuador have been effectively used to secure a loyal ally within our Hemisphere that could help Iran circumvent U.S. and U.N. sanctions," she said. "Iran's deepened alliance with [Ecuador President Rafael] Correa also facilitates Tehran's ability to access Ecuador’s uranium deposits.

House members want to ensure the Taliban does not win control through a back-room deal with Hamid Karzai.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) on Tuesday called on the Obama administration to be more vocal against the inauguration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who she said won his office through "widespread fraud."

"I am disappointed that the administration has not spoken out more forcefully about this stolen Nicaraguan election," Ros-Lehtinen said. "The United States and other free, democratic nations in the [Western] Hemisphere must denounce the Ortega tyranny immediately, call for the reinstitution of the democratic process in Nicaragua, and remain alert against the continued rise of dictatorships in the region and their alliances with Iran."

Timothy Yang, Taiwan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, called on two members of Congress last week to continue pressing for the sale of F-16 fighter planes to Taiwan.

Yang met with Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who co-chairs the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, and David Rivera (R-Fla.) late last week, according to Focus Taiwan.