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WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate last night passed bipartisan legislation to expand and modernize the State Department Rewards Program to combat war crimes and transnational organized crime. S.2318, sponsored by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), and Chris Coons (D-Del.), along with other...

Washington, DC – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) delivered the following statement at a hearing this morning following the release of the independent Accountability Review Board report earlier this week.   “Clearly mistakes were made and we learned of those yesterday in very stark terms about the...

“I've known and worked closely with Susan Rice not just at the UN, but in my own campaign for President. I've defended her publicly and wouldn't hesitate to do so again because I know her character and I know her commitment. She's an extraordinarily capable and dedicated public servant. Today’s announcement doesn't change any of that....

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, today released a statement following the announcement that North Korea had launched a rocket with an attached satellite. "It’s ‘Groundhog Day’ once again with another provocative and destabilizing act in direct violation of United Nations...

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, today released a statement following the announcement of Ambassador Princeton Lyman’s resignation as the president’s special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan. In the events leading up to the 2011 referendum and subsequent independence of South...

WASHINGTON – Following the Senate’s approval by a vote of 92-4 of a measure to normalize trade relations with Russia and remove prohibitive, antiquated trade barriers today, Senator John Kerry pointed towards new export opportunities for businesses in Massachusetts. In July, Kerry joined Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus in...

Washington, DC – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement today after Senate Republicans voted down the “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” an international agreement for protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities, by a vote of 61 to 38.  The...

Today's the vote that will decide the Disabilities Treaty. We're just a few short hours away. I was up late last night getting ready for the final floor debate, and I searched Twitter to see what folks were saying.There's obviously a lot of good and needed activism happening, and that's gratifying. But there's also a lot of misinformation being...

Watching cable television you might not know it, but the Senate is on the eve of a major decision that - either way - will ripple around the globe. It's time for action in the Senate on the Disabilities Treaty, and it's time for grassroots action to help push us across the finish line. Here in the Senate tomorrow, with all the world's eyes...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, today made the following statement in honor of World AIDS Day, recognized on Saturday, December 1, 2012. “For years, this was an annual day of mourning.  Now it is arguably a day of hope, as long as we do not abandon the fight.  The...

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, made the following statement today welcoming the appointment of Ambassador Mark Dybul, former United States Global AIDS Coordinator, as Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. “The Global Fund’s...

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, made the following statement today on the recent attack of Congolese doctor, Dr. Denis Mukwege. “The Democratic Republic of Congo has seen far more than its share of violence.  A recent attack on a humanitarian underscores the consequences of the...

Washington, DC – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement in response to the release of documents, concerning the recent events in Libya, by the House Oversight Committee. "The wholesale release of State Department documents by the House Oversight Committee has exposed...

Washington, DC – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement in response to the call made by Rep. King (R-NY) for Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, to resign.   "I'm deeply disturbed by efforts to find the politics instead of finding the facts in this...

  Washington, DC – U.S. Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, made the following statement today after the announcement from Addis Ababa that Sudan and South Sudan have signed an agreement on several of the most contentious issues between the newly divided countries. “It appears that Sudan and South Sudan...

Washington, DC – Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, made the following statement after President Obama’s Executive Order today strengthening the U.S. government’s approach to human trafficking.   The President discussed the scourge of modern-day slavery that plagues almost every country in the...

Washington, DC – This morning, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) delivered the following statement on the nomination of the Honorable Robert Stephen Beecroft, of California, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Iraq. “Our Embassy in Baghdad, the consulates in Basra and Erbil and other offices supporting the...

Washington, DC – At a business meeting led by Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) this afternoon, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the following legislation, resolutions, and nominations en bloc by voice vote: S. 2215, the Increasing American Jobs Through Greater Exports to Africa Act of 2012, with an amendment in the nature of a...

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today introduced a resolution to honor the contributions of Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari as Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and in promoting the legitimate rights and aspirations of the Tibetan people. Senators Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Dianne...

WASHINGTON, DC – The Senate tonight passed a resolution by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.),  Chairman and Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee, commending the four American public servants who died in Benghazi, Libya, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, for their tireless...