Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) says the secretary of State will appear before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The outgoing senator served on the university's board of trustees while he was mayor of Indianapolis.

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“Another out-of-date policy from the Cold War is the trade embargo on Cuba,” Bingaman said on the floor Thursday.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.”

Panetta warned that the use of chemical weapons would cross a red line that would result in consequences.

Congress must not allow the Obama administration to “water down” tough new Iran sanctions, the incoming chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Thursday. 

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said the Obama White House has “lagged far behind” Congress on Iran sanctions, during a speech at a day-long conference of the conservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

He vowed to stand up for Senate sanctions on Iran's energy, port and shipbuilding sectors that cleared the Senate late last month on a 94-0 vote but weren't included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) version that the House passed in May. A House-Senate conference committee will meet next week.

“We're going to have another chance to tighten the noose,” Royce said  “And I want to say that the NDAA amendment that would shut down most business with key sectors in the Iranian economy ... is crucial.”

The Obama administration and business groups commended Congress on Thursday for clearing legislation that would grant permanent normal trade relations to Russia. 

After months of lobbying and delays, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the measure that provides permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to Moscow and Moldova by repealing the obsolete Jackson-Vanik law, aimed at encouraging the emigration of Russian Jews. 

The measure also contains human rights legislation specifically calling for denying U.S. visas and freezing the assets of Russian officials involved in the death of whistleblower lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian prison. 

"The legislation will ensure that American businesses and workers are able to take full advantage of the WTO rules and market access commitments that the United States worked so hard to negotiate," President Obama said in a statement.

Terry Kramer shot down reports that the U.S. failed to secure support for keeping Internet regulations out of the treaty.

President Obama should consider destroying the Syrian Air Force on the ground to prevent future aerial attacks against civilians, a top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Thursday.

Sen. Robert Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), the chairman of the committee's Middle East subpanel, said the unification of Syrian opposition groups and their recent gains on the ground should encourage the United States to increase its involvement in Syria. 

“The administration should also examine and assess other ways in which the Syrian Air Force can be deterred or degraded, including the use of surface-to-surface Tomahawk missiles, to degrade the Syrian Air Force's ability to take off,” Casey said at a day-long conference of the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Planes on the ground is what we're talking about here.”

The remarks come as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to officially recognize the Syrian National Coalition as the legitimate successor to Assad's government during a meeting of a U.S.-backed Friends of Syria in Morocco next week.

A recent deal reached between top U.S. and Iraqi defense officials this week ensures the Pentagon will continue to play a large role in Baghdad's ongoing effort to maintain security within the country.