Los Angeles Daily News
Monterey County Herald, CA
Aug 29 2005
Foreign affairs no stranger to state
Lawmakers sit on key policy committees
By LISA FRIEDMAN
WASHINGTON – From the Iraq War to tensions in the Mideast to the
extradition of criminals hiding in Mexico, California’s influence on
U.S. foreign policy is intensifying.
About 25 percent of the U.S. House committee overseeing international
affairs hails from the Golden State, leading some aides to jokingly
refer to the panel’s ”California cabal” even as Congress’ foreign
policy demands increasingly reflect the state’s diversity and global
economic ties.
Twelve of the panel’s 50 members represent California, including the
leading Democrat, Tom Lantos of San Mateo, one other Northern
Californian, one from the Central Valley, and nine representing
various parts of the Southland. Three Californians chair
subcommittees on issues ranging from Europe to State Department
oversight to international terrorism.
”California members are very active in international relations
because the state is an economic powerhouse,” said Matthew Reynolds,
acting assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, a
liaison between Congress and the State Department.
Reynolds said California ”is on the threshold of a lot of things.
Its interests are political, human rights, there’s interest in
security issues, and I think you’ve probably got every group covered
in California.”
With the largest delegation in Congress, California might be expected
to be represented in large numbers everywhere — but isn’t.
Californians make up less than 10 percent of nearly every other panel
in Congress — just five members serve on Transportation, six on
Armed Services and five on Appropriations. Only the Resources
Committee, which oversees federal land and water policy, comes close
with nine Californians making up about 18 percent of the panel.
Lawmakers say the state’s relationship as a trade partner with more
than 220 countries, and the fact that Californians trace their roots
from more than 100 nations, primarily account for its
disproportionate involvement in foreign affairs.
”There’s a natural interest in international affairs, perhaps even
greater than other parts of the country,” said Rep. Howard Berman,
D-Van Nuys. ”California’s economy, its international dimension,
plays a huge factor as well as the part that so many Californians
come from other countries.”
But California interests are, of course, anything but homogenous.
Orange County’s Vietnamese community, for example, may press for
human rights in Vietnam while Los Angeles’ Armenian community urges
an end to Turkey’s blockade of Armenia.
Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, uses her position
to encourage better relations between the U.S. and Latin America,
while Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, wields his influence
to highlight long-standing human rights concerns in China. Rep. Adam
Schiff, D-Pasadena, meanwhile, focuses his committee efforts on
curbing nuclear proliferation.
”Foreign policy issues are now intertwined with national security
issues,” he said.
Israel and the Palestinian territories also are frequent points of
contention, even within the California delegation.
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, for example, recently worked
language into a bill calling for an end to U.S. aid to the
Palestinian Authority as long as its government-sponsored textbooks
deny the existence of Israel. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, in a
counteramendment, softened the provision so that only aid to
Palestinian education programs would be affected.
Overall, though, lawmakers say the foreign policy bills emerging from
Congress tend to have an overarching California theme: active
engagement in global affairs.
”Mostly it reflects a recognition of an internationalist approach
rather than an isolationist approach,” Berman said. ”What goes on
around the world has an impact on us, and we need to be engaged.”
And engaged they are. For example, two laws about to go into effect
— one authorizing the U.S. State Department for another two years
and another approving international U.S. assistance — are filled
with provisions authored by Californians.
Among them:
– One by Sherman blocking World Bank loans to Iran until the country
abandons its nuclear program.
– About $4.5 million in scholarship funds for students in Muslim
countries to attend U.S. schools as part of a program championed by
Berman to expose more students to American ideas and values.
– Demands from Reps. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, and Darrell
Issa, R-Vista, for the State Department to submit detailed
statistical reports regarding Mexico extradition requests.
Meanwhile, the panel will vote next month on whether the killing of
Armenians in Turkey during the Ottoman Empire should be declared
”genocide.” That’s a direct result of Schiff, whose district is
home to many of California’s estimated 400,000 Armenians.
Armen Carapetian, spokesman for the Armenian National Committee of
America’s western region in Glendale, said that for Armenians, having
a lawmaker on the International Relations Committee is as important
as having one on a bread-and-butter panel like Appropriations.
”It certainly helps to have your local congressman represent you in
places where it matters,” Carapetian said.
Added former Los Angeles Rep. Mel Levine, now head of community
relations for the Los Angeles Jewish Federation, ”It’s very
important, and there’s no doubt that the pro-Israel community pays a
lot of attention to this committee.”
Levine, who served on International Relations himself when in
Congress, also noted that with more than 15 lawmakers representing a
portion of Los Angeles County, no one lawmaker bears the sole burden
of bringing home federal money. That, he said, frees up politicians
who want to exercise their own intellectual interests in world
affairs.
”Our constituents tolerate it, even encourage it,” Sherman agreed.
”A Nebraska congressman might go home (after joining the foreign
affairs panel) and his constituents would say ‘You gave up the
Agriculture Committee for that?”’
Gallegly said he also thinks California constituents want their
representatives in Washington to be tuned in to the world.
”Let’s face it,” he said. ”We live in a global society. People are
a lot more interested in what’s going on around the world and how it
affects us at home.”|