Foreign Policy

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."

Rep. Louie Gohmert said Obama put troops at risk and “now we’ve got the al Qaeda flag flying in Libya.”

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would require the State Department to deny diplomatic visas to countries that refuse to accept those citizens of theirs whom the U.S. is seeking to deport because they have committed crimes here.

"There needs to be a punishment for any nation that refuses to take back lawfully deported criminal aliens," Poe said Tuesday. "We should not be issuing visas to diplomats of other nations that refuse to cooperate with our government."

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) on Monday invited the public to submit questions for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which could be asked by members of the committee when the secretary testifies Thursday on issues surrounding U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"I would like to encourage members of the public to visit our Committee website and utilize our 'You Ask a Question' feature, so that they can suggest questions for our Members to ask Secretary Clinton," Ros-Lehtinen said. "We want to know what's on your mind, and what’s important to you."

Lawmakers say the program requiring airlines to pay for their carbon emissions would unfairly raise costs for U.S. carriers.