Ranking Member's Press
Menendez, Senate Democrats Call on the Trump Administration to Help Combat Devastating Fires in Brazilian Amazon
WASHINGTON - As the Brazilian Amazon continues to be ravaged by tens of thousands of fires, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today led a group of his Senate Democratic colleagues in calling on the Trump Administration to intensify U.S. support and diplomatic engagement with Brazil to better address the environmental crisis. In two separate letters, Democratic Senators outlined the urgency for the United States to do more to help combat… Continue Reading
September 12, 2019
Menendez Leads Democratic Senators in Introducing Temporary Protected Status for The Bahamas
WASHINGTON - Following reports that the Trump Administration will refuse to grant temporary protections to Bahamians affected by Hurricane Dorian, Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today was joined by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kamala Harri… Continue Reading
September 12, 2019
Menendez, Rubio Applaud Senate Passage of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act
WASHINGTON - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) issued the following statement after the Senate unanimously approved their bipartisan Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act (S.178). The bill was introduced to counter the totalitarian Chinese government's widespread and horrific human rights abuses in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, including the mass internment of over one million Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim et… Continue Reading
September 10, 2019
Sen. Menendez and Rep. Smith Formally Request CBO Analyze the Costs of Trump Admin Allowing U.S.-Russia Nuclear Treaty to Expire
WASHINGTON - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Representative Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Chairman of House Armed Services Committee, sent a letter to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), requesting that the agency analyze the consequences of President Trump allowing the 2011 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) to expire in 2021. New START is a treaty between the United States and Russia that sets limits on the size of each count… Continue Reading
September 09, 2019
**VIDEO RELEASE** Menendez on Trump’s Failed Taliban Talks: “Art of Peace & Security is Far More Difficult than Art of the Deal”
NEWARK, N.J. - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today spoke at length after President Trump called off a summit at Camp David that he had secretly scheduled to include representatives of the Taliban. In response to a reporter's question during an unrelated press conference in Newark, Menendez outlined the U.S. national security impacts of the President's high-wire approach to diplomacy and his administration's failed foreign policy agenda. … Continue Reading
August 30, 2019
Menendez Reaffirms Support for Hong-Kong’s Pro-Democracy Movement; Calls on Trump to Follow Suit
WASHINGTON - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke today with MSNBC's Hallie Jackson regarding the Chinese government's increased crackdown on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, including the overnight arrests of multiple leaders organizing another round of rallies that had been planned for Saturday. "The President once again has not stood up for democracy and human rights," said Menendez. "That [effort] has become almost eliminat… Continue Reading
August 29, 2019
Menendez Demands that the Trump Administration Release Security Assistance Funding for Ukraine
WASHINGTON - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement in response to reports that the Trump Administration is willfully delaying the disbursal of $250 million in military assistance to Ukraine. "For the past several years, Democrats and Republicans in Congress have come together in sending a clear and unambiguous message to the world of our rock solid support for the people of Ukraine. Through the Congressional power… Continue Reading
August 28, 2019
Menendez, Colleagues Demand Trump Administration End Remain in Mexico Policy
WASHINGTON - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led a group of 23 of his Democratic Senate colleagues in calling on the Trump administration to stop restricting access to the U.S. asylum system by ending its Remain in Mexico policy. The deceptively named Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy blocks legal asylum seekers from being in the U.S. while they await court hearings in their cases, forcing them to wait in dangerous cities in Mexico… Continue Reading
August 27, 2019
Menendez, Schumer, Reed, and Warner to President Trump: President Vladimir Putin and Russian Federation Must Not Be Readmitted to G7
WASHINGTON - Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Ranking Member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Committee on Armed Services Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.), today sent a letter to President Donald Trump expressing strong opposition to the readmission of President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation to the Group of 7 (G7), after President Trump indicated that he ma… Continue Reading
August 15, 2019
Menendez Statement on OIG Report into Political Retaliation at State Department
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement today on the newly released report by the State Department Office of the Inspector General (OIG) into politically-motivated retaliation against career Department employees within the Bureau of International Organization Affairs: "Today, the OIG substantiated many of the concerns State Department employees have raised with the Committee since day one of the Trump pr… Continue Reading
August 07, 2019
Menendez, Engel Statement on Status of Jammu and Kashmir
WASHINGTON-In response to the steps India has taken to revise the status of Jammu and Kashmir, Senator Bob Menendez, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today issued the following statement: "As the world's largest democracy, India has an opportunity to demonstrate for all its citizens the importance of protecting and promoting equal rights, including freedom of assembly, access to informa… Continue Reading
August 01, 2019
Menendez Raises Alarm over Trump Admin’s Failure to Adequately Respond to Ebola Outbreak Crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today marked the one year anniversary of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by calling on the Senate to immediately take up and pass his bipartisan Ebola Eradication Act of 2019. Overwhelmingly approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in June, the proposal would direct the Trump Administration to drop its delay, and use all available tools and resourc… Continue Reading
August 01, 2019
Menendez, Rubio, Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan Resolution Commending the Inter-American Foundation on its 50th Anniversary
WASHINGTON - Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, were joined by Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) in introducing a bipartisan Senate resolution commending the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) on its 50th anniversary. The resolution applauds the IAF for its significant accomplishments and contributions … Continue Reading
July 31, 2019
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Publishes Report on Ambassador Kelly Craft
WASHINGTON - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today published a Committee Minority Report examining the nomination of Kelly Knight Craft to serve as U.S. Representative to the United Nations. The report lays out the case for Ms. Craft's nomination to be rejected by the Senate due to her lack of qualifications to lead the U.S. mission to the U.N., her rampant and inexcusable absenteeism while serving as Ambassador to Canada, and potential co… Continue Reading
July 30, 2019
Democrats Reiterate Concerns about Trump Admin’s Lack of Strategy for Central America
WASHINGTON - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and 23 Senators today sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterating their concern about the Trump Administration's lack of a coherent strategy to address the root causes forcing people to flee El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras for the United States. As the Administration continues restricting access to the U.S. asylum system and tries to choke off migration from the Northern Tri… Continue Reading
July 30, 2019
Menendez, Markey, Leahy, Schatz Urge Pompeo to Address China’s Maritime Aggression at ASEAN Summit
WASHINGTON - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was joined by Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) in calling on the Trump Administration to do more to deter further Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Senators urge the Administration to put China's expansionist behavior in the South China Sea at the center of its discussions at the upcoming… Continue Reading
July 30, 2019
Menendez Calls out Republican’s Hypocrisy after they Block Venezuela TPS Legislation in Senate
WASHINGTON - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the following remarks on the Senate Floor after Senate Republicans blocked a unanimous consent (UC) request to immediately approve the House-passed Venezuela TPS Act of 2019. Menendez was joined on the Senate Floor by Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL). The bipartisan legislation would provide Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 200,000 eligible Venezuelans that c… Continue Reading
July 30, 2019
Menendez on Vote to Override Pres. Trump’s Veto to Stop Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia and UAE
WASHINGTON - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke on the Floor of the Senate, urging his colleagues to vote to override President Trump's veto of three joint resolutions of disapproval that would halt certain arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Senate last month approved a total of 22 resolutions authored by Menendez blocking the Trump Administration's attempt to evade Congress and push through over $8 billion in … Continue Reading
July 25, 2019
Menendez Statement on the Passing of Tunisian President Beiji Caid Essebsi
NEWARK, N.J. - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement today on the passing of Tunisian President Beiji Caid Essebsi. "I offer my heartfelt condolences to the people of Tunisia and President Essebsi's family as they mourn his death. "President Essebsi will forever hold a unique place in Tunisian history as its first democratically elected president. Following a decades-long career in public service, President Es… Continue Reading
July 25, 2019
Menendez Announces Bipartisan Path Forward Ahead of Committee’s Business Meeting
WASHINGTON - Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the opening of today's business meeting, announcing a path forward to consider legislation and a package of nominations, and maintaining the longstanding bipartisan tradition of the Committee. "Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am very pleased that we were able to come together today and reach an agreement on a path forward for the legislation on the agenda today, a… Continue Reading
