United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for authorizing and overseeing foreign aid programs; arms sales and training for national allies; and holding confirmation hearings for high-level positions in the Department of State. Its sister committee in the House of Representatives is the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Refusing to give the lady [Peace Treaty of Versailles] a seat—by Senators Borah, Lodge and Johnson
Committee chairman Senator J. William Fulbright (left) with Senator Wayne Morse during a hearing on the Vietnam War in 1966
1976 publication of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the occasion of its 160th anniversary
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress. The United States Senate and the lower chamber of Congress, the United States House of Representatives, comprise the federal bicameral legislature of the United States. Together, the Senate and the House maintain authority under Article One of the U.S. Constitution to pass or defeat federal legislation. The Senate has exclusive power to confirm U.S. presidential appointments, approve or reject treaties, and try cases of impeachment brought by the House. The Senate and the House provide a check and balance on the powers of the executive and judicial branches of government.
United States Senate
A typical Senate desk on the floor of the United States Senate
The Senate side of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Committee Room 226 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, used for hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee