United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations


The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It is charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. The Foreign Relations Committee is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid programs as well as funding arms sales and training for national allies. The committee is also responsible for holding confirmation hearings for high-level positions in the Department of State. The committee has considered, debated, and reported important treaties and legislation, ranging from the Alaska purchase in 1867 to the establishment of the United Nations in 1945. It also holds jurisdiction over all diplomatic nominations. Along with the Finance and Judiciary Committees, the Foreign Relations Committee is one of the oldest in the Senate, going back to the initial creation of committees in 1816. Its sister committee in the House of Representatives is the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

History

Between 1887–1907, Alabama Democrat John Tyler Morgan played a leading role on the Committee. Morgan called for a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through Nicaragua, enlarging the merchant marine and the Navy, and acquiring Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Cuba. He expected Latin American and Asian markets would become a new export market for Alabama's cotton, coal, iron, and timber. The canal would make trade with the Pacific much more feasible, and an enlarged military would protect that new trade. By 1905, most of his dreams had become reality, with the canal passing through Panama instead of Nicaragua.
During World War II, the committee took the lead in rejecting traditional isolationism and designing a new internationalist foreign policy based on the assumption that the United Nations would be a much more effective force than the old discredited League of Nations. Of special concern was the insistence that Congress play a central role in postwar foreign policy, as opposed to its ignorance of the main decisions made during the war. Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg played the central role. In 1943, a confidential analysis of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was made by British scholar Isaiah Berlin for the Foreign Office.
with Senator Wayne Morse during a hearing on the Vietnam War in 1966
In 1966, as tensions over the Vietnam War escalated, the Committee set up hearings on possible relations with Communist China. Witnesses, especially academic specialists on East Asia, suggested to the American public that it was time to adopt a new policy of containment without isolation. The hearings Indicated that American public opinion toward China had moved away from hostility and toward cooperation. The hearings had a long-term impact when Richard Nixon became president, discarded containment, and began a policy of détente with China. The problem remained of how to deal simultaneously with the Chinese government on Taiwan after formal recognition was accorded to the Beijing government. The Committee drafted the Taiwan Relations Act which enabled the United States both to maintain friendly relations with Taiwan and to develop fresh relations with China.
In response to conservative criticism that the state department lacked hardliners, President Ronald Reagan in 1981 nominated Ernest W. Lefever as Assistant Secretary of State. Lefever performed poorly at his confirmation hearings and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations rejected his nomination by vote of 4-13, prompting Lefever to withdraw his name. Elliot Abrams filled the position.
Republican Senator Jesse Helms, a staunch conservative, was Committee chairman in the late 1990s. He pushed for reform of the UN by blocking payment of U.S. membership dues.

Members, 116th Congress

MajorityMinority

  • Bob Menendez, New Jersey, Ranking Member
  • Ben Cardin, Maryland
  • Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire
  • Chris Coons, Delaware
  • Tom Udall, New Mexico
  • Chris Murphy, Connecticut
  • Tim Kaine, Virginia
  • Ed Markey, Massachusetts
  • Jeff Merkley, Oregon
  • Cory Booker, New Jersey

    • Subcommittees

    Historical members

    Members, 115th Congress

    SubcommitteesChairRanking Member
    Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and CounterterrorismJim Risch Tim Kaine
    Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women's IssuesMarco Rubio Ben Cardin since February 6, 2018
    Bob Menendez until February 6, 2018
    Europe and Regional Security CooperationRon Johnson Chris Murphy
    Africa and Global Health PolicyJeff Flake Cory Booker
    East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity PolicyCory Gardner Ed Markey
    Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy and Environmental PolicyTodd Young Jeff Merkley
    State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International DevelopmentJohnny Isakson Jeanne Shaheen

    Members, 114th Congress

    Sources: –297, –662
    SubcommitteeChairRanking Member
    Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and CounterterrorismJim Risch Chris Murphy
    Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women's IssuesMarco Rubio Barbara Boxer
    Europe and Regional Security CooperationRon Johnson Jeanne Shaheen
    Africa and Global Health PolicyJeff Flake Ed Markey
    State Department and USAID Management, International Operations and Bilateral International DevelopmentRand Paul Barbara Boxer
    East Asia, The Pacific and International Cybersecurity PolicyCory Gardner Ben Cardin
    International Development, Multilateral Institutions and International Economic, Energy and Environmental PolicyJohn Barrasso Tom Udall

    Members, 113th Congress

    Sources: –297, –662
    newspaper in Jaffna on December 7, 2013 while E. Saravanapavan, the Managing Director of the newspaper explaining something to him.
    SubcommitteeChairRanking Member
    International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women's IssuesBarbara Boxer Rand Paul
    East Asian and Pacific AffairsBen Cardin Marco Rubio
    African AffairsChris Coons Jeff Flake
    Western Hemisphere and Global Narcotics AffairsTom Udall John McCain
    European AffairsChris Murphy Ron Johnson
    Near Eastern and South and Central Asian AffairsTim Kaine Jim Risch
    International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs and International Environmental Protection, and Peace CorpsTim Kaine, until 2013
    Ed Markey, from 2013    		John Barrasso

    Chairmen (1816–present)

    ChairmanPartyStateYears
    James BarbourDemocratic RepublicanVirginia1816–1818
    Nathaniel MaconDemocratic-RepublicanNorth Carolina1818–1819
    James BrownDemocratic RepublicanLouisiana1819–1820
    James BarbourDemocratic RepublicanVirginia1820–1821
    Rufus KingFederalistNew York1821–1822
    James BarbourDemocratic RepublicanVirginia1822–1825
    Nathaniel MaconDemocratic-RepublicanNorth Carolina1825–1826
    Nathan SanfordDemocratic-RepublicanNew York1826–1827
    Nathaniel MaconDemocratic-RepublicanNorth Carolina1827–1828
    Littleton TazewellDemocraticVirginia1828–1832
    John ForsythDemocraticGeorgia1832–1833
    William WilkinsDemocraticPennsylvania1833–1834
    Henry ClayWhigKentucky1834–1836
    James BuchananDemocraticPennsylvania1836–1841
    William C. RivesWhigVirginia1841–1842
    William S. ArcherWhigVirginia1842–1845
    William AllenDemocraticOhio1845–1846
    Ambrose H. SevierDemocraticArkansas1846–1848
    Edward A. HanneganDemocraticIndiana1848–1849
    Thomas Hart BentonDemocraticMissouri1849
    William R. KingDemocraticAlabama1849–1850
    Henry S. FooteDemocraticMississippi1850–1851
    James M. MasonDemocraticVirginia1851–1861
    Charles SumnerRepublicanMassachusetts1861–1871
    Simon CameronRepublicanPennsylvania1871–1877
    Hannibal HamlinRepublicanMaine1877–1879
    William W. EatonDemocraticConnecticut1879–1881
    Ambrose BurnsideRepublicanRhode Island1881
    George F. EdmundsRepublicanVermont1881
    William WindomRepublicanMinnesota1881–1883
    John F. MillerRepublicanCalifornia1883–1886
    John ShermanRepublicanOhio1886–1893
    John T. MorganDemocraticAlabama1893–1895
    John ShermanRepublicanOhio1895–1897
    William P. FryeRepublicanMaine1897
    Cushman DavisRepublicanMinnesota1897–1901
    Shelby M. CullomRepublicanIllinois1901–1911
    Augustus O. BaconDemocraticGeorgia1913–1914
    William J. StoneDemocraticMissouri1914–1918
    Gilbert M. HitchcockDemocraticNebraska1918–1919
    Henry Cabot LodgeRepublicanMassachusetts1919–1924
    William E. BorahRepublicanIdaho1924–1933
    Key PittmanDemocraticNevada1933–1940
    Walter F. GeorgeDemocraticGeorgia1940–1941
    Tom ConnallyDemocraticTexas1941–1947
    Arthur H. VandenbergRepublicanMichigan1947–1949
    Tom ConnallyDemocraticTexas1949–1953
    Alexander WileyRepublicanWisconsin1953–1955
    Walter F. GeorgeDemocraticGeorgia1955–1957
    Theodore F. GreenDemocraticRhode Island1957–1959
    J. William FulbrightDemocraticArkansas1959–1975
    John J. SparkmanDemocraticAlabama1975–1979
    Frank ChurchDemocraticIdaho1979–1981
    Charles H. PercyRepublicanIllinois1981–1985
    Richard LugarRepublicanIndiana1985–1987
    Claiborne PellDemocraticRhode Island1987–1995
    Jesse HelmsRepublicanNorth Carolina1995–2001
    Joe BidenDemocraticDelaware2001
    Jesse HelmsRepublicanNorth Carolina2001
    Joe BidenDemocraticDelaware2001–2003
    Richard LugarRepublicanIndiana2003–2007
    Joe BidenDemocraticDelaware2007–2009
    John KerryDemocraticMassachusetts2009–2013
    Bob MenendezDemocraticNew Jersey2013–2015
    Bob CorkerRepublicanTennessee2015–2019
    Jim RischRepublicanIdaho2019–present

    Primary sources