Foreign Policy

The Senate passed a bill before adjourning Wednesday evening that would make it U.S. policy to counter Iran's “growing hostile presence in the Western Hemisphere.”

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) questioned why President Obama hasn’t consulted with Congress about a trade deal in the works with Tajikistan.

Hatch said Tajikistan is planning to make a bid for membership to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and that the administration’s trade representative has been talking with the country for the past five weeks.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) called for the immediate release of a former U.S. Marine being held in a Mexican prison.

Nelson said Florida resident Johnny Hammar and his friend were trying to take a surfing trip when they were arrested after crossing the border. He said Hammar checked with U.S. customs to see if he was allowed to bring his grandfather’s shotgun along in his camper. When he showed it to Mexican border officials he and his companion were arrested.

On Human Rights Day, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) criticized human-rights violators who allow modern-day slavery and countries that deny religious freedoms.

“What’s important today is to take a moment and realize that the cause of human rights is not a partisan cause ... it’s a human cause,” Rubio said on the floor Monday. “Human trafficking and slavery is real.”

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) called for the United States to end its embargo against Cuba on Thursday.

Bingaman’s comments came after the Senate voted 92-4 to end a Cold-War-era trading prohibition against Russia.

“Another out-of-date policy from the Cold War is the trade embargo on Cuba,” Bingaman said on the floor Thursday. “The world has changed, and it is long past time that we change our policies with Cuba. ... It does not make our country safer and it does no good to the people of Cuba.”

House members on Wednesday introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at easing regulations now in place on companies that help Somali-Americans send monetary remittances back to their relatives in Somalia.

Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) proposed the Money Remittances Improvement Act, H.R. 6637. Ellison indicated that the bill is a reaction to problems Somali-Americans are having sending money abroad.

“We have to take very difficult votes in this chamber, but this is not one of them,” Sen. Baucus said.

The Senate passed a bill Wednesday night updating U.S. standards on foreign adoption services.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) called on the Senate Wednesday to take up its version of the Russia trade bill rather than the House version.

The Senate is considering the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, H.R. 6156, which is necessary for U.S. businesses to benefit from lower tariffs since Russia joined the World Trade Organization this summer.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said the United States cannot afford to ignore the worsening situation in Mali.