Foreign Policy

Rep. Dan Burton (Ind.), the third-ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, warned on Thursday afternoon that Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), President Obama and others should not be thinking about taking military action against Syria without first putting the question before Congress.

Burton was reacting to comments this week from McCain, who called on airstrikes against Syria to defend rebels against violence from Syrian Presidnet Bashar al-Assad.

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"Respectfully, I disagree with the senator from Arizona," Burton said on the House floor. "Our main goal in the Middle East is to protect our interests and the interests of our major ally, Israel.

"If we are to be dragged into a civil war in Syria for humanitarian reasons, I would respectfully remind Sen. McCain and the president that they do not have the power to unilaterally start a war."

Burton argued that the United States is "not the world's policeman," and said it is not the responsibility of the United States to control violence in other countries. "If it were, then bombs should be falling on a number of countries, including Yemen, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda, North Korea, Burma, and I could go on and on," he said.

He also added that U.S. involvement in Libya has created pockets of al Qaeda operatives, and said the United States would need to assess the risks of repeating this mistake in Syria.

"Do we really want to undertake a significant military commitment … to create so-called safe havens in Syria to deliver weapons and supplies to al Qaeda fighters from Iraq?" he asked.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday also downplayed McCain's call for military action, saying that it would be "premature" to commit the United States to such action at this point.

House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) on Monday afternoon called on newly reelected Russian President Vladimir Putin to embrace democratic reforms as he begins his six-year term, starting with an announcement that this will be Putin's last term.

"First, he could announce that this six-year term will be his last term, that he will not run again as president of Russia," Dreier said on the House floor.

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Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) last week introduced legislation aimed at increasing economic and political pressure on Syria's government to remove President Bashar al-Assad, and at the same time called out the Obama administration for failing to exert enough pressure on its own.

"President Obama has said Assad's departure is imminent, ever since he first called for his departure last August. Almost six months later, Assad remains in power," Rubio said.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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