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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 hearing to evaluate treaties. The witnesses for panel one included: Mr. Richard Visek, acting legal adviser at State, Dr. John Thompson, deputy assistant secretary for environment at...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are calling on the Biden Administration to establish an interagency and international strategy for the U.S. to help mitigate the looming food security crisis spurred by Putin’s illegal invasion of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on the reports of gross human rights violations recently revealed as the Ukrainian Armed Forces retook areas previously occupied by Russia:“Images emerging from towns outside of Kyiv have revealed...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, were joined by Representatives Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in condemning Tunisian President Saied’s attempt to...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on reports that the Biden Administration is considering delisting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO):“My recent conversations with our allies in the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined John Roberts and Sandra Smith on America Reports to discuss Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and its impact on Americans. To watch the full interview on YouTube, click here. To download the full interview on...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) today sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Chris Coons (D-Del.), chairman of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, today released the below statements following the committee’s bipartisan approval of S. 3199,...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and other colleagues Monday in a letter urging the Biden Administration to “prioritize reversing the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) discriminatory and unwarranted treatment of Israel...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on reports that the Biden Administration has decided to maintain long-standing U.S. nuclear declaratory policy:“Our allies made clear to me that they strongly preferred not making any changes to U.S. policy...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on President Biden’s FY2023 international affairs budget request:“I’ve consistently argued that the greatest threat to U.S. national security is our spiraling debt. Perhaps an even greater threat is an...

BOISE, Idaho – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union to discuss Russia’s war against Ukraine. To watch the full interview on YouTube, click here. To download the full interview on Google Drive, click here.  On President...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this week joined Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) and 38 members of Congress in sending a bicameral letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken advocating that the State Department assist Ukrainian refugees and aid American families who have already...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement outlining steps Congress and the Biden Administration should take to deter increasing Chinese military aggression towards Taiwan:“Congress – working across the aisle and with the administration – has the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on concrete steps NATO should take to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked war:“As we enter the second month of Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, it’s time NATO employs one of its...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the East Asia Subcommittee, Mitt Romney (R-Utah), ranking member of the East Asia Subcommittee, and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today welcomed action...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, today applauded the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), chair of the Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, today applauded committee passage of a resolution commending the government of Lithuania for increasing ties with Taiwan and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today applauded committee passage of S. 3666, legislation to mitigate risks related to El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, and S. 816, legislation to recalibrate the State Department’s risk tolerance abroad.  On the...