A bill to arm the Syrian opposition cleared its first legislative hurdle, easily passing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The bipartisan delegation will be led by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.).

A set of regulations contained in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law is having unintended consequences in war-torn central Africa, lawmakers and witnesses said during a hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

An Energy Department official hinted Tuesday that approval of more natural gas exports could be coming in the next few months.

DOE signed off on a project last week allowing natural-gas exports to nations lacking a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. Such deals face more scrutiny than those to FTA countries, as federal law requires them to be in the public interest.

DOE Acting Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy Chris Smith noted that it took 60 days to green-light the project following the evaluation of public comments on a DOE-commissioned study on the economic impact of natural-gas exports.

House Armed Services ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) slammed the panel’s closed-door briefing about Benghazi on Tuesday, calling it a “redundant waste of time.”

“It is my hope that today’s briefing is the last act in a sad attempt to manufacture a scandal,” Smith said in a statement as the briefing got underway. “For nearly eight months, we have watched Republicans desperately and obsessively search for a scandal, which has not appeared.”

Smith’s comments come amid partisan fighting over last year’s attack on a U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed. Republicans accuse the Obama administration of hiding the truth about what happened, while Democrats say the GOP is conducting a political witch hunt.

The Arizona senator said the planned negotiations all but assure the Obama administration won't soon take stronger action against Syria. 

Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in the Middle East on Tuesday for another round of talks on Syria and Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Kerry kicked off the week-long trip with a visit to Oman, where he's scheduled to discuss efforts to bring a peaceful resolution to Syria's 26-month civil war with Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said. He travels next to Amman, Jordan, for a meeting Wednesday with the foreign ministers and other senior representatives of 11 nations that support the rebels who are battling the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The visits come ahead of a last-ditch effort to a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Syria, which has claimed almost 100,000 lives. The United Nations peace talks, pushed by the United States and Russia, are scheduled to take place next month in Geneva.

A majority of Americans believe that the Obama administration is trying to cover up the facts about the Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. installation in Benghazi, Libya, and the administration's immediate response, according to a new poll released Tuesday.

The survey, by ABC News and The Washington Post, found that 55 percent of Americans believe the Obama administration is actively attempting to cover up the facts of the Benghazi attack. By contrast, only a third say the White House is honestly disclosing what it knows.

At the same time, respondents were split on whether the Republican criticism of the Obama administration's handling of the attack was rooted in legitimate concerns. While 44 percent say that the GOP had asked legitimate questions, 45 percent say that Republicans are just engaging in political posturing.

The star witness said Clinton personally ordered Ambassador Chris Stevens to set up a permanent post in Benghazi.