Foreign Policy

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.

A survey of companies that are either based in the U.S. or have a large U.S. presence shows that their activities in China were highly profitable in 2010, which the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC) says highlights the importance of the Chinese market to U.S. growth and job creation.

"U.S. companies continue to experience healthy market growth in China," said USCBC President John Frisbie upon the release of his organization's annual member survey. "The China market is increasingly important to US companies, the US economy, and American jobs."

Several senators on Thursday proposed legislation that would require websites that online travel service providers to provide detailed information about the health and safety services provided at each advertised destination.

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.,) the lead sponsor of the bipartisan International Travelers Bill of Rights act, said he introduced the bill after 8-year old Brent Midlock drowned in a hotel pool in Mexico.

The Senate on Tuesday evening approved seven ambassadorships by unanimous consent:

President Lee Myung-bak said the free-trade agreement "will allow us to widely share the benefits of trade, more than ever."

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) on Tuesday defended her United Nations reform legislation as a bill meant to force needed reforms of the U.N., not to simply criticize it, as some have charged.

"This bill is about reforming the U.N. so that it can work again — not trying to bash the U.N., or take the U.S. out of the U.N.," she told reporters.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on Tuesday called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to pressure the Libyan rebel's Transitional National Council (TNC) to provide access to the man convicted of carrying out the Pan Am flight 103 bombing above Scotland in 1988.

In his letter to Clinton, Menendez said that while Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was convicted for his part in the bombing, he did not work alone, and said the U.S. needs access to him to learn more about who else was involved. His letter was sent in the wake of new reports that suggest Megrahi may be nearing death, which Menendez said makes timely access to Megrahi critical.