United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs

House Foreign Affairs Committee
Standing committee
Active; ; United States House of Representatives; 118th Congress
History
Formed	1822
Leadership
Chair	Michael McCaul (R) ; Since January 3, 2023
Ranking member	Gregory Meeks (D) ; Since January 3, 2023
Vice chair	Vacant
Structure
Seats	51
Political parties	Majority (27) Republican (27); Minority (23) Democratic (23);
Jurisdiction
Policy areas	Foreign policy, aid, diplomacy
Oversight authority	Department of State; Agency for International Development
Senate counterpart	Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Website
	foreignaffairs.house.gov

The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs of the United States.^[1] Since 2023, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee has been Michael McCaul of Texas.

The committee has a broad mandate to oversee legislation regarding the impact of national security developments on foreign policy; war powers, treaties, executive agreements, and military deployments abroad; foreign assistance; arms control; international economic policy; and other matters.^[1] Many of its responsibilities are delegated to one of six standing subcommittees, which have jurisdiction over issues related to their respective region in the world. The committee also oversees the U.S. Department of State, American embassies and diplomats, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

During two separate periods, 1975 to 1978 and 1995 to 2007, the Foreign Affairs Committee was renamed the Committee on International Relations;^[2] its duties and jurisdiction remained unchanged.

Its counterpart in the Senate is the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Members, 118th Congress

Majority	Minority
Michael McCaul, Texas, Chair Chris Smith, New Jersey Joe Wilson, South Carolina Scott Perry, Pennsylvania Darrell Issa, California Ann Wagner, Missouri, Vice Chair Brian Mast, Florida Ken Buck, Colorado (until March 22, 2024) Tim Burchett, Tennessee Mark Green, Tennessee Andy Barr, Kentucky Ronny Jackson, Texas Young Kim, California Maria Elvira Salazar, Florida Bill Huizenga, Michigan Amata Coleman Radewagen, American Samoa French Hill, Arkansas Warren Davidson, Ohio Jim Baird, Indiana Michael Waltz, Florida Thomas Kean Jr., New Jersey Mike Lawler, New York Cory Mills, Florida Rich McCormick, Georgia Nathaniel Moran, Texas John James, Michigan Keith Self, Texas	Gregory Meeks, New York, Ranking Member Brad Sherman, California Gerry Connolly, Virginia Bill Keating, Massachusetts David Cicilline, Rhode Island (until May 31, 2023) Ami Bera, California Joaquin Castro, Texas Dina Titus, Nevada Ted Lieu, California Susan Wild, Pennsylvania Dean Phillips, Minnesota Colin Allred, Texas Andy Kim, New Jersey Sara Jacobs, California Kathy Manning, North Carolina, Vice Ranking Member Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Florida Greg Stanton, Arizona Madeleine Dean, Pennsylvania Jared Moskowitz, Florida Jonathan Jackson, Illinois Sydney Kamlager-Dove, California Jim Costa, California Jason Crow, Colorado Gabe Amo, Rhode Island (from November 15, 2023) Brad Schneider, Illinois (from March 8, 2023)

Resolutions electing members: H.Res. 14 (Chair), H.Res. 15 (Ranking Member), H.Res. 80 (R), H.Res. 87 (D), H.Res. 76 (removing Omar), H.Res. 102 (D), H.Res. 205 (D), H.Res. 871 (D)

Subcommittees

Whereas until the 118th Congress, subcommittees tended to combine jurisdiction over particular regions of the globe with jurisdiction over broader policy areas (e.g. terrorism or energy policy), in the 118th Congress, the subcommittees were reconfigured to strictly focus on geographical areas, with the exception of global issues and international organisations which received their own subcommittee.

Subcommittee	Chair^[3]	Ranking Member^[4]
Africa	John James (R-MI)	Sara Jacobs (D-CA)
Europe	Thomas Kean Jr. (R-NJ)	Bill Keating (D-MA)
The Indo-Pacific	Young Kim (R-CA)	Ami Bera (D-CA)
The Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia	Joe Wilson (R-SC)	Dean Phillips (D-MN)
Western Hemisphere	Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL)	Joaquin Castro (D-TX)
Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations	Chris Smith (R-NJ)	Susan Wild (D-PA)
Oversight and Accountability	Brian Mast (R-FL)	Jason Crow (D-CO)

List of chairs

Data from the committee's official website:^[5]

Chairman	Party	Dates of service	Home state
Jonathan Russell	Democratic-Republican	1821–1823	Massachusetts
John Forsyth	Democratic-Republican	1823–1827	Georgia
Edward Everett	National Republican	1827–1829	Massachusetts
William S. Archer	Democratic	1829–1834	Virginia
James Moore Wayne	Democratic	1834–1835	Georgia
John Young Mason	Democratic	1835	Virginia
Benjamin Chew Howard	Democratic	1835–1839	Maryland
Francis Wilkinson Pickens	Democratic	1839–1841	South Carolina
Caleb Cushing	Democratic	1841–1842	Massachusetts
John Quincy Adams	Whig	1842–1843	Massachusetts
Charles Jared Ingersoll	Democratic	1843–1847	Pennsylvania
Truman Smith	Whig	1847–1849	Connecticut
John Alexander McClernand	Democratic	1849–1851	Illinois
Thomas Henry Bayly	Democratic	1851–1855	Virginia
Alexander C. M. Pennington	Opposition	1855–1857	New Jersey
Thomas Lanier Clingman	Democratic	1857–1858	North Carolina
George Washington Hopkins	Democratic	1858–1859	Virginia
Thomas Corwin	Republican	1859–1861	Ohio
John J. Crittenden	Union Democratic	1861–1863	Kentucky
Henry Winter Davis	Unconditional Union	1863–1865	Maryland
Nathaniel P. Banks	Republican	1865–1872	Massachusetts
Leonard Myers	Republican	1872–1873	Pennsylvania
Godlove Stein Orth	Republican	1873–1875	Indiana
Thomas Swann	Democratic	1875–1879	Maryland
Samuel S. Cox	Democratic	1879–1881	New York
Charles G. Williams	Republican	1881–1883	Wisconsin
Andrew Gregg Curtin	Democratic	1883–1885	Pennsylvania
Perry Belmont	Democratic	1885–1888	New York
James B. McCreary	Democratic	1888–1889	Kentucky
Robert R. Hitt	Republican	1889–1891	Illinois
James Henderson Blount	Democratic	1891–1893	Georgia
James B. McCreary	Democratic	1893–1895	Kentucky
Robert R. Hitt	Republican	1895–1906	Illinois
Robert G. Cousins	Republican	1907–1909	Iowa
James Breck Perkins	Republican	1909–1910	New York
David J. Foster	Republican	1910–1911	Vermont
William Sulzer	Democratic	1911–1912	New York
Charles Bennett Smith	Democratic	1912–1913	New York
Henry D. Flood	Democratic	1913–1919	Virginia
Stephen G. Porter	Republican	1919–1930	Pennsylvania
Henry Wilson Temple	Republican	1930–1931	Pennsylvania
John Charles Linthicum	Democratic	1931–1932	Maryland
Sam D. McReynolds	Democratic	1932–1939	Tennessee
Sol Bloom	Democratic	1939–1947	New York
Charles Aubrey Eaton	Republican	1947–1949	New Jersey
Sol Bloom	Democratic	1949	New York
John Kee	Democratic	1949–1951	West Virginia
James P. Richards	Democratic	1951–1953	South Carolina
Robert B. Chiperfield	Republican	1953–1955	Illinois
James P. Richards	Democratic	1955–1957	South Carolina
Thomas S. Gordon	Democratic	1957–1959	Illinois
Thomas E. Morgan	Democratic	1959–1977	Pennsylvania
Clement J. Zablocki	Democratic	1977–1983	Wisconsin
Dante Fascell	Democratic	1983–1993	Florida
Lee H. Hamilton	Democratic	1993–1995	Indiana
Benjamin A. Gilman	Republican	1995–2001	New York
Henry Hyde	Republican	2001–2007	Illinois
Tom Lantos	Democratic	2007–2008	California
Howard Berman	Democratic	2008–2011	California
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen	Republican	2011–2013	Florida
Ed Royce	Republican	2013–2019	California
Eliot Engel	Democratic	2019–2021	New York
Gregory Meeks	Democratic	2021–2023	New York
Michael McCaul	Republican	2023–present	Texas

Previous members

117th Congress

Majority	Minority
Gregory Meeks, New York, Chair Brad Sherman, California Albio Sires, New Jersey Gerry Connolly, Virginia Ted Deutch, Florida Karen Bass, California Bill Keating, Massachusetts David Cicilline, Rhode Island Ami Bera, California Joaquin Castro, Texas Dina Titus, Nevada Ted Lieu, California Susan Wild, Pennsylvania Dean Phillips, Minnesota Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Colin Allred, Texas Andy Levin, Michigan Abigail Spanberger, Virginia Chrissy Houlahan, Pennsylvania Tom Malinowski, New Jersey, Vice Chair Andy Kim, New Jersey Sara Jacobs, California Kathy Manning, North Carolina Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Florida (since November 15, 2022) Jim Costa, California Juan Vargas, California Vicente Gonzalez, Texas Brad Schneider, Illinois	Michael McCaul, Texas, Ranking Member Chris Smith, New Jersey Steve Chabot, Ohio Joe Wilson, South Carolina Scott Perry, Pennsylvania Darrell Issa, California Adam Kinzinger, Illinois Lee Zeldin, New York Ann Wagner, Missouri, Vice Ranking Member Brian Mast, Florida Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania Ken Buck, Colorado Ron Wright, Texas (until February 7, 2021) Tim Burchett, Tennessee Mark Green, Tennessee Andy Barr, Kentucky Greg Steube, Florida Dan Meuser, Pennsylvania Claudia Tenney, New York August Pfluger, Texas Nicole Malliotakis, New York Peter Meijer, Michigan Ronny Jackson, Texas Young Kim, California Maria Elvira Salazar, Florida

Resolutions electing members: H.Res. 9 (Chair), H.Res. 10 (Ranking Member), H.Res. 62 (D), H.Res. 63 (R), H.Res. 146 (R), H.Res. 1471 (D)

Subcommittees

Subcommittee	Chair	Ranking Member
Africa, Global Health and Global Human Rights	Karen Bass (D-CA)	Chris Smith (R-NJ)
Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia and Nonproliferation	Ami Bera (D-CA)	Steve Chabot (R-OH)
Europe, Energy, the Environment and Cyber	Bill Keating (D-MA)	Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
Middle East, North Africa and Global Counterterrorism	Ted Deutch (D-FL)	Joe Wilson (R-SC)
International Development, International Organizations and Global Corporate Social Impact	Joaquin Castro (D-TX)	Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY)
Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, Migration and International Economic Policy	Albio Sires (D-NJ)	Mark Green (R-TN)

116th Congress

Majority	Minority
Eliot Engel, New York, Chair Brad Sherman, California Gregory Meeks, New York Albio Sires, New Jersey Gerry Connolly, Virginia Ted Deutch, Florida Karen Bass, California Bill Keating, Massachusetts David Cicilline, Rhode Island Ami Bera, California Joaquin Castro, Texas, Vice Chair Dina Titus, Nevada Adriano Espaillat, New York Ted Lieu, California Susan Wild, Pennsylvania Dean Phillips, Minnesota Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Colin Allred, Texas Andy Levin, Michigan Abigail Spanberger, Virginia Chrissy Houlahan, Pennsylvania Tom Malinowski, New Jersey David Trone, Maryland Jim Costa, California Juan Vargas, California Vicente Gonzalez, Texas	Michael McCaul, Texas, Ranking Member Chris Smith, New Jersey Steve Chabot, Ohio Joe Wilson, South Carolina Scott Perry, Pennsylvania Ted Yoho, Florida Adam Kinzinger, Illinois Lee Zeldin, New York Jim Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin Ann Wagner, Missouri, Vice Ranking Member Brian Mast, Florida Francis Rooney, Florida Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania John Curtis, Utah Ken Buck, Colorado Ron Wright, Texas Guy Reschenthaler, Pennsylvania Tim Burchett, Tennessee Greg Pence, Indiana Steve Watkins, Kansas Michael Guest, Mississippi Mark Green, Tennessee (since July 30, 2020)

Sources: H.Res. 24 (Chair), H.Res. 25 (Ranking Member), H.Res. 57 (D), H.Res. 68 (R), H.Res. 1072 (R)

Subcommittees

Subcommittee^[6]	Chair^[7]^[8]	Ranking Member^[9]
Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations	Karen Bass (D-CA)	Chris Smith (R-NJ)
Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation	Ami Bera (D-CA)	Ted Yoho (R-FL)
Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment	Bill Keating (D-MA)	Adam Kinzinger (R-IL)
Middle East, North Africa and International Terrorism	Ted Deutch (D-FL)	Joe Wilson (R-SC)
Oversight and Investigations	Joaquin Castro (D-TX)	Lee Zeldin (R-NY)
Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, and Trade	Albio Sires (D-NJ)	Francis Rooney (R-FL)

115th Congress

Majority	Minority
Ed Royce, California, Chair Chris Smith, New Jersey Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Dana Rohrabacher, California Steve Chabot, Ohio Joe Wilson, South Carolina Michael McCaul, Texas Ted Poe, Texas Darrell Issa, California Tom Marino, Pennsylvania Mo Brooks, Alabama Paul Cook, California Scott Perry, Pennsylvania Ron DeSantis, Florida Mark Meadows, North Carolina Ted Yoho, Florida Adam Kinzinger, Illinois Lee Zeldin, New York Dan Donovan, New York Jim Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin Ann Wagner, Missouri Brian Mast, Florida Francis Rooney, Florida, Vice Chair Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania Tom Garrett, Virginia John Curtis, Utah	Eliot Engel, New York, Ranking Member Brad Sherman, California Gregory Meeks, New York Albio Sires, New Jersey Gerry Connolly, Virginia Ted Deutch, Florida Karen Bass, California William R. Keating, Massachusetts David Cicilline, Rhode Island Ami Bera, California, Vice Ranking Member Lois Frankel, Florida Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii Joaquin Castro, Texas Robin Kelly, Illinois Brendan Boyle, Pennsylvania Dina Titus, Nevada Norma Torres, California Brad Schneider, Illinois Tom Suozzi, New York Adriano Espaillat, New York Ted Lieu, California

Sources: H.Res. 6 (Chair), H.Res. 7 (Ranking Member), H.Res. 45 (D), H.Res. 51 (R) and H.Res. 52 (D)^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b "About". House Foreign Affairs Committee. Retrieved 2021-01-22.
^ "Committee Activity". House Foreign Affairs Committee.
^ "Chairman McCaul Announces Committee Leadership Team". Committee on Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
^ "Ranking Member Gregory W. Meeks Announces HFAC Subcommittee Membership for the 118th Congress". democrats-foreignaffairs.house.gov. 2023-02-08. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
^ "Past Chairs of the Committee". History of the Committee. U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on January 9, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
^ "Subcommittees". House Foreign Affairs Committee. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
^ "Engel Announces Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Democrats and Committee Vice Chair". House Foreign Affairs Committee. 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
^ "Engel Announces Changes to Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Leadership". House Foreign Affairs Committee. 2019-12-13. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
^ "McCaul Announces Republican Subcommittee Leadership and Membership Rosters at 116th Committee Organizational Meeting". Committee on Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
^ "Full Committee". Foreign Affairs Committee.

External links

Media related to United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs at Wikimedia Commons

Official website (Archive)
House Foreign Affairs Committee. Legislation activity and reports, Congress.gov.

[:0-1] "About". House Foreign Affairs Committee. Retrieved 2021-01-22.

[2] "Committee Activity". House Foreign Affairs Committee.

[3] "Chairman McCaul Announces Committee Leadership Team". Committee on Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2023-02-04.

[4] "Ranking Member Gregory W. Meeks Announces HFAC Subcommittee Membership for the 118th Congress". democrats-foreignaffairs.house.gov. 2023-02-08. Retrieved 2023-02-08.

[officialHistory00-5] "Past Chairs of the Committee". History of the Committee. U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on January 9, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2012.

[6] "Subcommittees". House Foreign Affairs Committee. Retrieved 2020-07-16.

[7] "Engel Announces Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Democrats and Committee Vice Chair". House Foreign Affairs Committee. 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2020-07-16.

[8] "Engel Announces Changes to Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Leadership". House Foreign Affairs Committee. 2019-12-13. Retrieved 2020-07-16.

[9] "McCaul Announces Republican Subcommittee Leadership and Membership Rosters at 116th Committee Organizational Meeting". Committee on Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2020-07-16.

[10] "Full Committee". Foreign Affairs Committee.

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