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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today gave the following opening remarks at a full committee nomination hearing. The second panel consisted of the Honorable Rahm Emanuel, nominee to be ambassador to Japan, and Mr. Jonathan Eric Kaplan, nominee to be ambassador to the Republic...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today gave the following opening remarks at a full committee nomination hearing. The first panel consisted of the Honorable R. Nicholas Burns, nominee to be ambassador to the People's Republic of China.Ranking Member Risch gave the following...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) released the following statements on today’s committee passage of S.Res.380, a resolution reiterating United States support for the people of the Republic of South Sudan in their quest for lasting peace, stability, and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement after meeting with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi today:  “Iran continues to steadily advance its nuclear program, while violating its international obligations...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on the passing of Colin Powell, a former four-star general in the United States Army who served as Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and National Security Advisor under four...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement on the election of 18 new members to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC): “Today’s UNHRC election is a sham – every country, including the United States, is running unopposed....

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on the upcoming meeting between President Joe Biden and Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta: “Kenya is an important strategic partner and strong U.S. ally in East Africa, and though it’s long...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recently led 29 colleagues in introducing the Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act, legislation to address the outstanding issues related to the administration’s rushed and disastrous withdrawal from...

WASHINGTON – The top Republicans on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, and the U.S. Senate Banking Committee expressed serious concerns with the Administration’s recent suggestions it is considering circumventing the Senate’s constitutional treaty authority in implementing a global tax agreement. Foreign...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on the swearing-in of Prime Minister Abiy and the devastating security and humanitarian crises facing Ethiopia:“As Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed begins his first full term in office this week, he must move...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement ahead of Taiwan’s National Day on October 10:“I want to wish the people of Taiwan a happy national day. Taiwan is an important U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific and a model of democracy in Asia. Over the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on the administration’s declassification of the number of active and inactive warheads in the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile:“The Biden Administration has repeated the Obama Administration’s mistake of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today released the following statement on reports of U.S. partners pursuing normalization with the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria:“Bashar...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to take immediate action to increase...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today gave the following opening remarks at a full committee nomination hearing for Ms. Lisa A. Carty, nominee to be ambassador to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, Mr. Steven C. Bondy, nominee to be ambassador to the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on the municipal elections conducted in Georgia over the weekend: “This weekend’s elections in Georgia were incredibly disappointing and a dramatic departure from the 2012 elections that I...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement in reaction to the suspension of Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigation into the 2020 Beirut port blast in the wake of calls for his dismissal:“We are extremely concerned...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recently welcomed seven new committee interns for the fall term. “I’m glad to welcome a new group of impressive interns to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,” said Risch. “These students will experience firsthand how Congress manages...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), ranking member of the subcommittee overseeing the Western Hemisphere, today released the following statement on the European Union’s (EU) decision to deploy an election observation mission to Venezuela for the regional...