United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for authorizing and overseeing foreign aid programs; arms sales and training for national allies; and holding confirmation hearings for high-level positions in the Department of State. Its sister committee in the House of Representatives is the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Along with the Finance and Judiciary committees, the Foreign Relations Committee is among the oldest in the Senate, dating to the initial creation of committees in 1816. It has played a leading role in several important treaties and foreign policy initiatives throughout U.S. history, including the Alaska Purchase, the establishment of the United Nations, and the passage of the Marshall Plan. The committee has also produced eight U.S. presidents—Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Benjamin Harrison, Warren Harding, John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden —and 19 secretaries of state. Notable members have included Arthur Vandenberg, Henry Cabot Lodge, and William Fulbright.
The Foreign Relations Committee is considered one of the most powerful and prestigious in the Senate, due to its long history, broad influence on U.S. foreign policy, jurisdiction over all diplomatic nominations, and its being the only Senate committee to deliberate and report treaties.
From 2021 to 2023, the Foreign Relations Committee was chaired by Democratic senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, until he stepped down as chair after facing federal corruption charges.

Role

In 1943, a confidential analysis of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by British scholar Isaiah Berlin for the Foreign Office stated:

History

Between 1887 and 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.
File:Refusing to give the lady a seat - Rollin Kirby Trim.jpg|thumb|Refusing to give the lady a seat—by Senators Borah, Lodge and Johnson, 1919
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.
File:Senator Wayne Morse with Senator William Fulbright at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 1966.jpg|thumb|Committee chair Senator J. William Fulbright 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 chair in the late 1990s. He pushed for reform of the UN by blocking payment of U.S. membership dues.
Bertie Bowman served as a staffer on the FRC from 1966 to 1990 and as the hearing coordinator from 2000 to 2021.

Members, 119th Congress

Majority	Minority
Jim Risch, Idaho, Chair Pete Ricketts, Nebraska Dave McCormick, Pennsylvania Steve Daines, Montana Bill Hagerty, Tennessee John Barrasso, Wyoming Mike Lee, Utah Rand Paul, Kentucky Ted Cruz, Texas Rick Scott, Florida John Curtis, Utah John Cornyn, Texas	Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire, Ranking Member Chris Coons, Delaware Chris Murphy, Connecticut Tim Kaine, Virginia Jeff Merkley, Oregon Cory Booker, New Jersey Brian Schatz, Hawaii Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Jacky Rosen, Nevada

Subcommittees

Chairs (1816–present)

Former chairs are listed below.

Ranking members

Historical committee rosters

118th Congress

Majority	Minority
Ben Cardin, Maryland, Chair Bob Menendez, New Jersey, Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Chris Coons, Delaware Chris Murphy, Connecticut Tim Kaine, Virginia Jeff Merkley, Oregon Cory Booker, New Jersey Brian Schatz, Hawaii Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Tammy Duckworth, Illinois George Helmy, New Jersey Andy Kim, New Jersey	Jim Risch, Idaho, Ranking Member Marco Rubio, Florida Mitt Romney, Utah Pete Ricketts, Nebraska Rand Paul, Kentucky Todd Young, Indiana John Barrasso, Wyoming Ted Cruz, Texas Bill Hagerty, Tennessee Tim Scott, South Carolina

;Subcommittees

Subcommittees	Chair	Ranking Member
Africa and Global Health Policy	Cory Booker	Tim Scott
East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy	Chris Van Hollen	Mitt Romney
Europe and Regional Security Cooperation	Jeanne Shaheen	Pete Ricketts
Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy and Environmental Policy	Tammy Duckworth	John Barrasso
Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism	Chris Murphy	Todd Young
State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development	Ben Cardin	Bill Hagerty
Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women's Issues	Tim Kaine	Marco Rubio

117th Congress

Majority	Minority
Bob Menendez, New Jersey, Chair Ben Cardin, Maryland Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Chris Coons, Delaware Chris Murphy, Connecticut Tim Kaine, Virginia Ed Markey, Massachusetts Jeff Merkley, Oregon Cory Booker, New Jersey Brian Schatz, Hawaii Chris Van Hollen, Maryland	Jim Risch, Idaho, Ranking Member Marco Rubio, Florida Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Mitt Romney, Utah Rob Portman, Ohio Rand Paul, Kentucky Todd Young, Indiana Ted Cruz, Texas John Barrasso, Wyoming Mike Rounds, South Dakota Bill Hagerty, Tennessee

;Subcommittees

Subcommittees	Chair	Ranking Member
Africa and Global Health Policy	Chris Van Hollen	Mike Rounds
East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy	Ed Markey	Mitt Romney
Europe and Regional Security Cooperation	Jeanne Shaheen	Ron Johnson
Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy and Environmental Policy	Chris Coons	Rob Portman
Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism	Chris Murphy	Todd Young
State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development	Ben Cardin	Bill Hagerty
Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women's Issues	Tim Kaine	Marco Rubio

116th Congress

Majority	Minority
Jim Risch, Idaho, Chair Marco Rubio, Florida Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Cory Gardner, Colorado Todd Young, Indiana John Barrasso, Wyoming Rob Portman, Ohio Rand Paul, Kentucky Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Mitt Romney, Utah Ted Cruz, Texas David Perdue, Georgia	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	Chair	Ranking Member
Africa and Global Health Policy	Lindsey Graham	Tim Kaine
East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy	Cory Gardner	Ed Markey
Europe and Regional Security Cooperation	Ron Johnson	Jeanne Shaheen
Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism	Mitt Romney	Chris Murphy
Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy and Environmental Policy	Todd Young	Jeff Merkley
State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development	John Barrasso	Cory Booker
Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women's Issues	Marco Rubio	Ben Cardin