House Committee on Foreign Affairs

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs is responsible for all legislation and oversight related to U.S. foreign policy. This includes the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, Peace Corps, and other agencies involved in diplomacy and international relations. The committee reviews bills on foreign assistance, military deployments, treaties, arms control, counterterrorism, and human rights. It also oversees how the executive branch conducts diplomacy and manages relationships with other countries.

Bills referred to the committee go through a deliberative process before reaching the full House floor. Members debate the merits of proposed legislation, conduct hearings with government officials and experts, and propose amendments. The committee's nine subcommittees—covering Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, South and Central Asia, the Western Hemisphere, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, and Oversight and Intelligence—handle regional and functional issues within their areas. The full committee can assume authority over any subcommittee matter at the chair's discretion.

Chair Brian Mast, a Republican from Florida, leads the committee, while Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York, represents the minority party. Recent activity includes demands for testimony from State Department and Defense Department officials regarding diplomatic negotiations and military decisions, as well as bills addressing issues ranging from academic security and development policy to human rights and technology safeguards in foreign relations.