U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Senator Dick Lugar, Ranking Republican

From January 2003 to December 2006, Senator Dick Lugar chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee under Senator Lugar, held more hearings than any other committee in the Senate, including more than 30 oversight hearings on Iraq. The Committee and passed legislation creating the Millennium Challenge Corporation - President Bush's new foreign aid initiative, the global AIDS assistance program, Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, and the India nuclear cooperation act. Senator Lugar also focused on foreign energy dependence as a national security issue. Senator Lugar defined the public debate with major speeches before the UN Security Council, the Brookings Institution, Purdue University, a NATO Conference in Riga, Latvia, and a joint appearance with New York Times columnist Tom Friedman at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.s

During his initial chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1985 to 1986, Senator Lugar was instrumental in promoting democracy around the world. He played a pivotal role in the 1986 Philippines election that brought Corazon Aquino to power. He also led the Senate effort to secure passage of the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, which imposed economic and political sanctions on South Africa.