House GOP Needs a Steady Foreign Policy Hand

House GOP Needs a Steady Foreign Policy Hand
House GOP Needs a Steady Foreign Policy Hand
Now that the 2018 mid-term elections are finally drawing to a close, all attention in the House of Representatives has turned to leadership elections.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is no exception. The retirement of current Chairman, Ed Royce (CA), has left a leadership position vacant during a pivotal time for the Republican Party and, indeed, for the U.S. and its allies.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee election results will have the power to do much more than help determine whether or not Republicans will retake the House in 2020.

In the next two years, the Foreign Affairs Committee needs to play a critical role in advancing America’s interests around the world and building lasting partnerships with U.S. allies that are vital to our security.

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

Relocating the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem represented a bold move by the Trump administration. Many say it was long overdue, considering the closely-allied relationship between the U.S. and Israel. However, some suggest that it will also come at a price.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) understands that a strong partnership between the U.S. and Israel is essential to containing Iran, as he wrote in a September 2017 op-ed for The Hill. McCaul also supported the Countering America’s Adversaries Act which was signed into law August 2017.

While the foreign policy failures of the Obama administration created the void which Iran is currently filling, it is the responsibility of this Congress and the Trump administration to ensure the Mullahs in Tehran are not successful.

For this reason, I supported the House’s overwhelming passage of the Countering America’s Adversaries Act, which was signed into law in July. This law directs the president to impose sanctions on any entity or individual that materialistically supports Iran’s ballistic missile program, is complicit in human rights abuses, or provides military sales, such as tanks, missiles or combat aircraft, to the regime. Additionally, this law freezes the assets of members of Iran’s militant arm, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), who are responsible for the implementation of Iran’s military agenda. Furthermore, it requires the administration to develop a strategy to counter Iran’s nefarious, destabilizing activities in the Middle East.

Read more: Int Policy Digest

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