House Committee on Foreign Affairs

The 'House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives which has jurisdiction over bills and investigations related to the foreign affairs of the United States. It is less powerful than its Senate counterpart, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, because the House committee does not consider the ratification of treaties or the confirmation of presidential appointments, such as are made for ambassador and Secretary of State.

Subcommittees

 * Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health
 * Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment
 * Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
 * Subcommittee on Europe
 * Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia
 * Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight
 * Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade

Homosexual translators
On June 25, 2007, Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) urged the State Department to hire homosexual military translators who had been recently discharged under the military's "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy, which they called "absurd and highly biased," stating it "cripples our national security." The congressmen cited a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which found that some 300 soldiers with critical language skills, including Persian and Arabic, had been dismissed under the policy. They also highlighted both recent testimony by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the 9/11 Commission Report, which pointed to critical foreign-language experts as an integral part of national security.

Petraeus report
On September 10, 2007, General David Petraeus testified before the House Committee on Armed Services and House Committee on Foreign Affairs. In his testimony, Petraeus claimed that major progress had been made since the beginning of the troop surge, and that he predicted that troop levels could begin dropping in Summer of 2008.


 * Opening remarks by General Petraeus
 * Slides from Petraeus's testimony

Resolution on Armenian genocide
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed House Resolution 106, the Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide, on October 10, 2007. The nonbinding resolution calls the mass killings of Armenians that began in 1915 genocide. The move defied the White House’s warnings that it could damage U.S.-Turkey relations. The committee passed the resolution on a 27-21 bipartisan vote and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) promised she would bring the resolution to the full House for a vote. The committee has passed a similar resolution in 2005, but it failed to reach the House floor for a full vote.

The government of Turkey was spending over $300,000 a month on communications specialists and lobbyists, including former congressman Rep. Robert L. Livingston (R-La.). President Bush, Secretary of State Rice, and Defense Secretary Gates were joined by all eight living former secretaries of state and three former defense secretaries in condemning the proposal.

External resources

 * House Committee on International Relations
 * Members
 * The dKosopedia page on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

External articles
=Contact=

House Committee on International Relations 2170 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225 5021 Fax: (202) 225 2035 email: HIRC AT mail DOT house DOT gov

Committee Web site


 * Majority staff office - (202) 225-5021
 * Minority staff office - (202) 225-6735