The House Foreign Affairs Committee continues to get things done to help keep our country safe, advance free enterprise and human rights, and restore American influence abroad.

Last Thursday, the committee approved 13 – thirteen! – items, including measures addressing the Assad regime’s horrific war crimes, a military assistance package for Israel, and the political crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

And on Friday evening, President Obama signed two committee bills into law.  A third is expected to be signed later this week. Here’s more on each:

  1. The Global Food Security Act will save lives and combat hunger, without increasing U.S. government spending.  This bill, championed by Subcommittee Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ), establishes clear priorities for U.S. food aid programs so that people can grow their own way out of poverty rather than depend on foreign aid.
    Global Food Security Act
  2. Subcommittee Chairman Ted Poe’s (R-TX) Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act will bring much-needed reforms to U.S. foreign development and economic assistance programs. It’ll ensure those programs deliver assistance efficiently and effectively by reducing waste and duplication and by applying tough standards for monitoring and evaluation.
    Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act
  3. And the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Extension Act of 2016, shepherded through the House by Subcommittee Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), will extend U.S. sanctions on individuals in the Maduro regime for violations of the Venezuelan people’s human rights.
    Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Extension Act

(Photos courtesy of Caleb Smith/Speaker’s Office.)