Polls continue to show Democrats regaining control of at least one house of Congress in the November 7 elections. If this happens, they could exercise greater oversight of executive bodies and trade policy, but they are not expected to press for sharp changes on Iraq.

The war in Iraq is a divisive issue not only between Democrats and Republicans but also among Democrats themselves. Their ability to offer a viable alternate strategy on Iraq may decide whether they win control of Congress. 

Foreign policy is dominating U.S. political discourse for the first time in years. This backgrounder looks at the leading schools of foreign-policy thought on both sides of the political aisle.

This report makes recommendations for reforming the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and examines how the administration and Congress can reassure foreign investors of U.S. openness and address growing anxieties in other countries.

This Council Special Report addresses the controversial nuclear deal between the United States and India, offering practical recommendations for promoting U.S.-India relations while strengthening nonproliferation.

People naturally disagree about who is responsible for the partisan tone and tactics in Washington, DC, these days, but most agree on this: It's worse, it's more intense, and it's nastier. And few on either side are enjoying it much.

CFR.org interviews representatives of the foreign press corps at the Democratic National Convention about what issues appeal to their home audiences.

The bipartisan deficit reduction plan stresses the need to tighten U.S. foreign policy priorities, even if U.S. allies fail to pick up the slack, says expert Michael Mandelbaum.

Ethiopia’s U.S. ambassador says his government needs more international help in securing Somalia and is wrongly blamed by Congress for rights abuses.

Shannon O’Neil, CFR’s Mexico expert, says Washington’s $1.4 billion multiyear plan to bolster Mexico’s crackdown on drug and criminal rings, while drawing criticism, is likely to win congressional approval. 

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) calls on the Bush administration to accept Iraq war funding legislation that conditions U.S. engagement on Iraqi government moves toward political reconciliation.

Kenneth M. Pollack says Democrats should give President Bush’s new Iraq plan a chance, but also prepare alternatives.

The presumptive chair of the House International Relations Committee expects no "silver bullets" to emerge from the Baker commission's report on Iraq. But Rep. Tom Lantos hopes the forthcoming report it will be the basis for a bipartisan effort to change the nature of the U.S. involvement in Iraq.

James M. Lindsay, an expert on Congress and American foreign policy, says in the aftermath of the Democratic Party victories in the midterm elections, many politicians are hoping that the “knight in shining armor” to rescue Iraq policy may lie in the special commission headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and former chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Lee Hamilton.

Anthony H. Cordesman, a leading analyst of the Iraq war, says that the Defense Department's latest report to Congress on the status of the Iraq war borders on "deception" by painting an overly upbeat picture. The situation in Iraq has "steadily deteriorated," he says, in large part because the Iraqi political parties have failed to come together.

Joseph Lieberman's retirement will impact the clout of the bipartisan trio, which included Senators Lieberman, John McCain, and Lindsey Graham, that once dominated congressional debate on foreign policy, says the New York Times.

Gregory Bovt writes that Russia is a low priority on the list of foreign policy issues for both Democratic and Republican candidates and advises avoiding excessive anti-Russian or anti-U.S. rhetoric from both sides.

"North Korea's impending nuclear test is just the latest illustration of Barack Obama's weakness and naiveté abroad," writes special advisor to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, Richard Williamson, who served in the Reagan White House as an assistant to the president in the 1980s and as the president's special envoy to Sudan in the 2000s.