Foreign Policy

The House on Tuesday evening was easily on track to approve legislation that would make it easier for large countries like India and China to win employment-related visas allowing their citizens to work in the United States.

The House briefly debated H.R. 3012, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, and was preparing to vote on the bill at 6:30 p.m. under a suspension of House rules. During debate, Republicans and Democrats indicated broad support for the bill, which would eliminate the current rule saying that a country can only receive up to 7 percent of the total work-related immigrant visas that the U.S. issues each year.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) on Monday evening said the U.S. should reconsider its support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after a NATO-led airstrike killed more than two dozen Pakistani soldiers and injured others near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"Reports indicate that NATO is bracing itself for reprisal attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan," Kucinich said. "This means U.S. forces will be at increased risk. The U.S. cannot expect to achieve stability in Afghanistan and the region while NATO, with impunity, conducts reckless actions that directly undermine the security of the Pakistani people and jeopardize U.S.-Pakistani relations."

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday that he would introduce legislation repealing current law that allows U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess a $5.50 customs fee on Canadians entering the U.S. by boat or plane, and said this fee would destroy the economy of northern sections of the U.S. that depend on Canadian visitors.

"The federal government might as well be putting up stop signs in every waterway and at every airport," said Schumer. "These fees send the wrong message to Canadians looking to visit New York — 'stop' coming here for meetings that could lead to new businesses and jobs in New York, 'stop' fishing in New York and buying bait and tackle here, 'stop' staying in our hotels, and 'stop' eating in our restaurants."

Members of the House and Senate have introduced legislation that authorizes the executive branch to sanction foreign financial institutions that do business with Iran's central bank, which they argue is the financier of Iran's illicit activities.

Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) on Tuesday introduced H.R. 3508, which would require the U.S. to block foreign firms from opening accounts in the U.S. and freezing any U.S. assets they have if these firms do business with the central bank of Iran.

If the Obama administration was hoping the announcement of new sanctions against Iran would stall sanctions legislation in Congress, those hopes appear to be dashed.

Key members of the House and Senate on Monday said they would press ahead with legislation to tighten sanctions further against Iran, even as they welcomed President Obama’s Executive Order on Iran. Obama’s order sanctions entities that help Iran’s petrochemical industry, expands sanctions on companies that help Iran’s oil and gas industry, and sanctions Iran’s entire banking system under the Patriot Act.

The executive order follows a new assessment from the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons.

House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) on Friday introduced a resolution calling for free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with Egypt.

Dreier said an FTA would help U.S. companies expand sales to Egypt, but would also help encourage democratic reforms in that country in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Members of the House on Wednesday put new pressure on European companies to compensate relatives of Holocaust victims who were denied insurance payments, and whose family members were transported on French trains to concentration camps where they were killed.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a Wednesday hearing on two bills aimed at forcing these companies to compensate survivors.

Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Thursday introduced legislation that would allow the U.S. to fund only those United Nations programs it supports, and condition U.S. financial support on a shift to voluntary funding for U.N. programs.

"This legislation is needed because the structure and bureaucratic culture of the organization often makes it impossible or, at best, downright difficult to achieve meaningful reforms," Rubio said. "It follows on the steps of previously successful congressional initiatives on this matter. Every previously successful American effort for reform at the U.N. has been accompanied with the threat of withholding our valuable contributions."

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said on Tuesday that word from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran continues to develop nuclear weapons is a sign Congress needs to move quickly to tighten sanctions against Iran.

"Recently, Iran's [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad admitted publicly that those sanctions that are being applied are bringing strong pressure against the regime," Ros-Lehtinen said. "Congress can ratchet up that pressure by passing two new bills targeting Iran which were recently unanimously adopted by the House Foreign Affairs Committee."