The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Senate Committee Meetings” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Daily Digest section on pages D1099-D1100 on Dec. 6, 2016.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
WORLDWIDE THREATS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine emerging United States defense challenges and worldwide threats, after receiving testimony from General John M. Keane, USA (Ret.), Institute for the Study of War, former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, Shawn Brimley, Center for a New American Security, and Robert Kagan, The Brookings Institution, all of Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported the following business items:
H.R. 1150, to amend the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to improve the ability of the United States to advance religious freedom globally through enhanced diplomacy, training, counterterrorism, and foreign assistance efforts, and through stronger and more flexible political responses to religious freedom violations and violent extremism worldwide, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
H.R. 2845, to promote access to benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, with an amendment;
H.R. 4481, to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance for developing countries to promote quality basic education and to establish the goal of all children in school and learning as an objective of the United States foreign assistance policy, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
H.R. 4939, to increase engagement with the governments of the Caribbean region, the Caribbean diaspora community in the United States, and the private sector and civil society in both the United States and the Caribbean, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
S. Res. 537, expressing profound concern about the ongoing political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, urging the release of political prisoners, and calling for respect of constitutional and democratic processes, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
S. Res. 535, expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the trafficking of illicit fentanyl into the United States from Mexico and China, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
S. 8, to provide for the approval of the Agreement for Cooperation Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of Norway Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy;
S. Con. Res. 57, honoring in praise and remembrance the extraordinary life, steady leadership, and remarkable 70-year reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand;
S. Con. Res. 30, expressing concern over the disappearance of David Sneddon;
Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on the Accession of Montenegro (Treaty Doc. 114-12); and
The nomination of Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir, of Connecticut, to be Ambassador to Malaysia, and lists in the Foreign Service, all of the Department of State.
IRANIAN THREAT NETWORK
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine defeating the Iranian threat network, focusing on options for countering Iranian proxies, after receiving testimony from J. Matthew McInnis, American Enterprise Institute, and Melissa G. Dalton, Center for Strategic and International Studies International Security Program, both of Washington, D.C.
RETALIATORY CRIMINAL REFERRALS
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism concluded a hearing to examine whether additional firewalls are needed to protect Congressional oversight staff from retaliatory criminal referrals, after receiving testimony from Jeffrey H. Smith, Arnold and Porter LLP, and William Pittard, KaiserDillon PLLC, both of Washington, D.C.; and Scott Horton, Columbia Law School, Pelham, New York.
