Bob Corker relished public feuds with Trump. The next Senate Foreign Relations chair has softer style.
WASHINGTON – Now-retired Sen. Bob Corker frequently used his perch as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee to lob cutting critiques at President Donald Trump – whether accusing the president of putting America on “a path to World War III” or being “submissive” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Don’t expect those kind of verbal bangers from Corker’s successor, Sen. Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican and Trump loyalist who is poised to win the Foreign Relations gavel this week.
A self-made millionaire, former trial lawyer and current cattle rancher, Risch is a low-key legislator where Corker was high-profile media star. Risch seems to shun public confrontations, where Corker appeared to relish them.
Risch will take the helm of the committee at a turbulent moment in U.S. foreign policy – with lawmakers in both parties questioning the Trump administration’s approach to Saudi Arabia, Russia, Syria and North Korea, among other global hotspots. And he’ll have to oversee the potentially controversial nomination of Heather Nauert, Trump’s pick to succeed Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
How Risch will navigate that thicket remains to be seen. Foreign policy experts and even some of his Senate colleagues say they’re not sure what to expect from the Idaho Republican’s chairmanship, in part because Risch has yet to make a big mark in the foreign policy arena. In the last Congress, he sponsored only one foreign affairs bill – a resolution commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. In the subcommittee he chaired, Risch convened just two hearings in the last two years, although he stood in for Corker three times to chair the full committee.
“We’re going to have a frankly much more quiet voice in the Senate majority on foreign policy than we did in the last two years,” said Michael H. Fuchs, who served as a senior State Department official in the Obama administration and is now a fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress.
“I don’t know how he’s going to be,” Corker said of Risch in an interview last month, as the Senate was in the midst of a contentious debate over the Saudi crown prince’s role in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
But Corker said Risch was preparing for the post in a sober way – hiring top-notch staff and seeking out advice. “He told me yesterday … ‘I really want you to know that I’m really taking this seriously. I know what a step it is.'”
Risch's spokeswoman, Suzanne Wrasse, said the senator has been engaged on a wide range of foreign policy matters, from arms control treaties to Russia sanctions.
“Risch is a workhorse, not a show horse," Wrasse said. "He is extremely engaged on these issues, and whether his input is behind the scenes, member-to-member, or more public, he is very strategic and focused on the end result. He has four decades of legislative and executive leadership experience, which includes a number of major policy victories, so it is no surprise when he succeeds.”
Wrasse said Risch wanted to wait until he is officially selected as chairman before speaking to the press about his priorities and outlook.
Risch’s allies said he will bring an open mind and self-effacing style to a panel that has often been run by senators with national ambitions.
“Jim Risch is just an energetic, happy Westerner,” said Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican who is close to Risch. Gardner said that because Risch also sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, “he will have, I think, an unparalleled understanding of the threats this nation faces.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who serves with Risch on the Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees, said Risch won’t try to use his new post to raise his own profile. He will let others on the committee help shape the agenda.
“He tries to find something that you care about and allow people to play a leading role on that issue,” Rubio said. “I think he would tell you his job is to run the committee and not necessarily be a shadow secretary of State.”
Risch will have plenty of competition for the limelight, since the foreign relations panel is stocked with other senators who are far better known than he is – including Rubio, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Rand Paul of Kentucky, all former (and possibly future) GOP presidential candidates.
Risch will also have to contend with a coterie of Democrats on the committee seeking aggressive oversight of the Trump administration. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who has voiced fierce opposition to Trump's foreign policy, said he believes Risch will be fair and will make an effort to work with Democrats.
"He tends to back up the administration, but not blindly," Murphy said. "I think we’re going to butt heads a bunch, but I think he has the ability to be a real honest broker."
Risch seems to be a fairly conventional conservative in his foreign policy views. He has voted with Trump 90.5 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight, a website that conducts political, economic and other analyses. But he has bucked the president on a few issues. Last July, for example, Risch voted in favor of a sweeping Russia sanctions bill that Trump opposed. He also voted to open debate on a Yemen war resolution the administration tried to quash, though Risch eventually voted against final passage.
“Every indication that we have is that Senator Risch adheres to the traditional pro-trade, tough-on-bad guys wing of … the Republican Party,” said Danielle Pletka, senior vice president for foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank. She said that means he and other Republicans will inevitably clash with Trump on some major policy issues, such as Russia and Syria.
Risch will not be afraid to take on Trump when he thinks the president is wrong, Rubio and others said. But he’ll be measured – and probably private – about any policy disagreements with the president.
“Jim Risch has never stood down from anything,” said Gardner. “This guy’s faced 2,000-pound animals on his ranch. There’s nothing that’s going to frighten this guy.”
Other foreign policy coverage:
Trump’s foreign policy agenda faces a gauntlet of House Democrats led by New York’s Eliot Engel
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bob Corker relished public feuds with Trump. The next Senate Foreign Relations chair has softer style.
