New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen will be the first woman to serve as a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Shaheen first joined the committee in 2009 after she was elected to Congress.
NHPR’s All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa spoke with Shaheen about foreign policy, the incoming Trump administration and working with New Hampshire’s new Gov.-elect, Kelly Ayotte. Below is a transcript of their conversation.
Transcript
Let's start with Syria. President-elect Trump said over the weekend that Syria is a mess that the U.S. should not be involved in. We do have troops there, 900 soldiers who are supporting Kurdish forces. You say those troops should remain to blunt the possibility of ISIS forces reconstituting. How do you see this playing out in the short term, and what do you see as the U.S.'s strategic priority there?
Well, first of all, I think it's really important to recognize for the Syrian people what a victory it is to have Bashar al-Assad finally gone, to have the murderous Assad regime out of the government of Syria. We have heard from Syrians in New Hampshire and throughout the world how pleased they are about that. Now, the question remains, what happens next? And will the rebels who have taken control be the terrorist groups that some of them came from, or will they protect civilians? So far, their track record is pretty good. We haven't seen any killing of civilians. They've released political prisoners. They have not vandalized public buildings. So hopefully that will continue and we will see a government formed that can take over and provide freedom for the Syrian people.
I think it's very important for our troops to stay there to prevent the resurgence of ISIS. We know that there are still many ISIS fighters in Syria. There are still ISIS remnants in detainee camps throughout the country. We know that the United States did some targeted bombings of ISIS over the weekend, in a way, to try and send a very important signal that they should not think about trying to resurge and take over Syria. But it's still a very complicated place.
I think it's good news that both Russia and Iran are weakened, so that they could not come to the help of the Assad regime, and that they have pulled back on their troops. Hopefully, the rebels will prevent Iran from sending weapons through Syria to Hezbollah and Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East. And there are still two very important Russian bases in Syria [and] it's not clear how that will play itself out. So I think we have a lot of unknowns, but I think we have some strategic interests in Syria that it's important for us to continue to monitor very carefully and to see how we can continue to support the Syrian people.
You have a lot of experience serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. You're a senior member in it. What changes do you expect to see as President-elect Trump comes into office with his approach to foreign policy?
Well, it's not clear, and I don't want to speculate. What we have is the history of what he did in his first term. Now, whether he will continue in some of those areas to promote the kinds of efforts he supported when he was president before is not clear. So I think for me, in the short term, my goal is to make sure the Foreign Relations Committee is as functional as possible, that we are bipartisan, that we are able to set up a process that gets our ambassadors around the world on the ground, the career ambassadors in a designated period of time so that we are represented throughout the world. We know that China doesn't have any problem getting their ambassadors on the ground in countries around the world, and the United States should do the same.
You voted alongside a small coalition of Democrats and independents last month to block the transfer of certain American-made weapons to Israel. How did you come to this decision? You broke away from many of those in your party on this issue, including New Hampshire's other senator, Maggie Hassan.
Well, I did. I have watched, as all Americans and actually the world has, the events as they have unfolded in Gaza, the horrible tragedy of Oct. 7 when Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis, innocent Israelis and in a murderous rampage. And I think it was important for Israel to be able to defend itself and to fight back against that. I think at this point, a ceasefire is warranted in Gaza. The killing of innocent civilians needs to end in Gaza, and I think it was important to send that message to Netanyahu and his cabinet.
As you said, you're also in support of a ceasefire in the region. President-elect Trump has picked a secretary of defense and ambassador to Israel with Christian Zionist beliefs. Are you concerned about whether a ceasefire will be possible with Trump taking office again?
I'm concerned about what happens in the Middle East. I think the events in Syria make the situation even more complicated. And I think we have a process in place to be able to question those people that President-elect Trump has nominated, to find out what their views are, to do a background check. I hope that the Trump administration will agree to background checks for all of their nominees so that we have that information and then we can make a decision.
Do you think a ceasefire is possible in the region?
I do think a ceasefire is possible. I think if Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed his team and we were able to continue the pressure from other Arab nations and get Hamas to the table, there would be a ceasefire. We should have had a ceasefire a long time ago. We need to get the hostages home, and we need to end the conflict in Gaza.
Shifting to domestic issues, President Joe Biden signed a pardon for his son, Hunter, last week after saying many times that he would not do that. The president is considering more pardons with the goal of preempting future prosecutions by [Trump's] justice department. What are your thoughts on that?
Well, I understand that some of the people who have been suggested to be included in any potential future pardons have said they don't really need it, and so I think we'll have to see how that plays out.
And turning to state level politics, you've worked previously with Gov.-elect Kelly Ayotte in the U.S. Senate. What issues would you want to work together on now as she takes office?
I think it's in New Hampshire's interest for our federal delegation to work very closely with the governor and with the state Legislature, and I hope to do that. Obviously, we're not going to agree on everything. We didn't when we served together in the Senate. But there was a lot that we did agree on, and certainly what's in the best interest of New Hampshire is something that we should all be able to agree on.
And specific issues you might want to work together on?
Well, I think, there will be budget concerns. Obviously, a high percentage of New Hampshire's budget comes from the federal level. And so we want to make sure that we're supporting what we need to, whether it's in the area of the environment, water, clean water. One of the challenges we've got is that a lot of the bipartisan infrastructure package programs will be coming to an end over the next couple of years. We need to see how we're going to follow those up to make sure that communities all across New Hampshire have access, continued access to clean water, that we can help them as they're addressing their wastewater needs. We need to continue the road building that has been going on under the bipartisan infrastructure plan. It's been very important to not just communities across the state, but to the economy of New Hampshire. So we need to keep that going. Energy is a big issue. We need to do more, I believe, to promote energy efficiency in New Hampshire. And so there will be a big role to play there. So I think they're going to be a lot of issues coming up that are important to the people of our state.
Senator, your current term ends in two years. Will you run for reelection in 2026?
I will make that decision, Julia, but I haven't made it yet.
