Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin E. Dempsey (left), Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (center) and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta testify May 23, 2012, on Capitol Hill before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Law of the Sea Convention. (Associated Press)
George Clooney answers questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on horrors he saw while visiting Sudan. With him are human rights activist John Prendergast (center) and Jonathan Temin of the United States Institute of Peace. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)
Actor George Clooney responds March 14, 2012, to questions at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Sudan and South Sudan. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)
Actor George Clooney (right) responds March 14, 2012, to questions at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Sudan and South Sudan. To his right are John Prendergast (center), co-founder of Satellite Sentinel Project and Enough Project, and Jonathan Temin, director of the United States Institute of Peace's Sudan program. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)
**FILE** Michael McFaul testifies on Oct. 12, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination as U.S. ambassador to Moscow. (Associated Press)
"Respect for human rights is a cornerstone of our foreign policy. The committee is deeply concerned about what happened to Sergei Magnitsky, and I strongly support the administration's decision to use its authority to bar human-rights abusers from coming to the U.S.," said Sen. John F. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (Associated Press)
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John F. Kerry of Massachusetts is advocating for ratification of the controversial Law of the Sea Treaty. (Associated Press)
Sen. John Kerry (left), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Richard G. Lugar, the ranking Republican on the panel, listen to testimony during a committee hearing on Libya and the War Powers Resolution on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, June 28, 2011. (Drew Angerer/The Washington Times)
Harold Koh, a State Department lawyer, testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Libya and the War Powers Resolution on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, June 28, 2011. (Drew Angerer/The Washington Times)
