Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) believes that the Senate is capable of forging a bipartisan approach to global issues during the presidency of Donald Trump, despite his demonstrated disruptive influence on the Republican Party prior to his return to the White House.
Assuming the role of incoming ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, Shaheen is poised to play an important part in guiding this collaborative effort. She will also break new ground as the first woman to occupy her party’s top position on the committee.
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While Trump and his supporters express skepticism about foreign aid, Shaheen remains confident that several Republican colleagues will rally behind Ukraine’s struggle against Russia and support measures to deter Chinese President Xi Jinping.
During a recent phone conversation with The Hill, she emphasized, “I think in the Senate, there is strong bipartisan support for Ukraine, for trying to help Ukraine be in the strongest possible position for any negotiation on the war.”
Additionally, she noted, “There is a lot of bipartisan agreement on the need to address China’s efforts to undermine the United States; Iran, North Korea, are all watching what’s happening in Ukraine. They’re taking lessons from how the United States responds.”
At 77, she reflects on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the 1960s and 1970s as a period of considerable influence, referencing the five-year Fulbright hearings that examined the Vietnam War.
“The Foreign Relations Committee was really important in directing foreign policy in the United States and its oversight responsibility for the Department of State, and I would hope that we can move it in that direction again,” she remarked.
Does she have support from across the aisle?
Shaheen enjoys a warm rapport with incoming Chair Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and has stated they have discussed enhancing the committee’s flexibility to respond to global events while prioritizing the confirmation of ambassadors, especially career foreign service officers.
This remains a contentious partisan issue, as numerous ambassador nominees from President Biden faced confirmation delays in 2024 due to finger-pointing between Democrats and Republicans on the committee.
“Every single person in the Senate has held up a vote on something in order to get something else, that’s how it works around here, because that’s the power an individual senator has,” Risch explained to The Hill in September regarding stalled nominations.
Nevertheless, Risch and Shaheen have publicly pledged to expedite the confirmation of Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
However, many of Shaheen’s Republican peers are likely to align with Trump’s view that the U.S. provides excessive assistance abroad and should withdraw from international conflicts.
In a recent vote, 37 Senate Republicans supported the cancellation of $5 billion in loan forgiveness for Ukraine, including Risch, who often states that he is in “violent agreement” with Shaheen on priorities such as support for Ukraine.
Although Shaheen asserts that passing Biden’s request for $24 billion in aid for Ukraine remains a Senate priority, she recognizes that a clear path forward is uncertain with the incoming Trump administration and the Republicans’ consolidation of power in Washington, D.C.
The president-elect has indicated that Ukraine might anticipate reductions in U.S. assistance, and some advisers have suggested using American aid as leverage to encourage Kyiv to negotiate with Russia.
Questions about potential strategies to counter Trump, his Congressional allies, or external influences like billionaire Elon Musk, whose Starlink satellite internet is crucial for Ukraine’s military communications, were not addressed by Shaheen.
Regarding Musk, she described his influence as “quite destructive,” particularly after he lobbied Trump against a short-term funding agreement just days before a potential government shutdown.
Under Musk’s sway, Trump also opposed a yearlong extension for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, an agency created with bipartisan support to combat foreign influence and propaganda, which Musk has criticized for allegedly engaging in censorship.
“He doesn’t seem to understand the impact, or doesn’t care about the challenge that we’re facing in the United States, from disinformation and misinformation, where we are behind our adversaries, China, Russia, even Iran, in addressing that, and that’s the role of the Global Engagement Center,” Shaheen stated.
Characterized as a serious legislator by colleagues from both parties and former staff, Shaheen is recognized as a “workhorse” rather than a “show horse,” though they acknowledge her willingness to push back and become “feisty” when facing obstruction from colleagues.
“She’s dogged in working toward the goals that she set, or in trying to get something done, and, yes, there is a feisty aspect to her,” noted Rich Sigel, who was Shaheen’s chief of staff during her governorship in New Hampshire.
Senator Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) appreciated her collaborative approach, stating, “She always involves me in the phone calls she’s making with elected leaders, world leaders in Europe, and I really appreciate that.”
“Obviously these issues are not necessarily partisan; it’s about representing the interests of the United States, but she does a great job of making sure it’s a bipartisan effort when we’re talking to these world leaders.”
Algene Sajery, who served as the Democratic policy director for the Foreign Relations Committee from 2015 to 2018 and is a board member of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security, described Shaheen as the “epitome” of what is necessary to counteract partisanship.
“I think a lot of people on the committee and in the Senate really, on both sides, really care about human beings, about people… But they let partisanship dictate policy, and I see it on both sides,” she remarked. “I was just in awe of that woman,” Sajery added.
“She’s able to listen to both sides and then really work through the problem. She’s exactly who we need in this time in the Senate to shepherd through good national security and foreign policy laws and policy positions.”
A trailblazer, Shaheen has made history as the first woman to hold the ranking position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in its 209-year existence, following her distinction as the first woman elected as governor of New Hampshire and the first woman in the nation to serve both as a governor and a U.S. senator.
Although Shaheen has not confirmed whether she will seek reelection in 2026, doing so would position her as the first female chair of the Foreign Relations Committee if Democrats regain control of the Senate.
She told Semafor that her decision will depend on how the next two years uncovers. “Is there an opportunity to move things forward in a positive way, to help address the concerns that I see that we have around the world in terms of humanitarian issues?” she expressed. Shaheen consistently emerges as a vocal advocate for women’s rights globally, unafraid to challenge her predominantly male colleagues.
“You guys think that every time you see women in the title we’re talking about reproductive rights. … There’s a lot that women do besides having babies!” she admonished her Republican peers on the Senate floor in 2022 while trying to advance the stalled confirmation of Biden’s nominee for ambassador at large for global women’s issues.
“That office is about, how do we provide economic empowerment for women and issues that affect women? … There should be room for agreement around these issues,” she reiterated in her conversation with The Hill.
“We know that when women are empowered, that they give back more to their families, their communities, and their countries than men do in terms of monetary giveback, and that countries that have women who are empowered tend to be more stable.”
Shaheen emphasized the necessity of remaining vigilant against any attempts to undermine gains in women’s participation and representation, including a Trump-era regulation that restricts U.S. funding for organizations that provide information about abortion.
While Biden rescinded the expanded “global gag rule,” Trump is likely to advocate for its reimplementation. “I do think that is an area that we will continue to disagree on, because I think their policy is just wrong,” Shaheen stated.
Her commitment to bipartisan collaboration was evident in 2017 when she joined forces with Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) to sponsor the Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act, aimed at permanently revoking the global gag rule.
Shaheen reintroduced the legislation in 2023 alongside Murkowski, but it did not progress beyond the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. One of her signature achievements is the 2017 Women, Peace, and Security Act, which prioritizes U.S. leadership in promoting women’s involvement in foreign policy and national security initiatives, including conflict prevention, peace negotiations, and democratic institution-building.
She often cites a statistic from the United Nations indicating that women’s participation in peace negotiations increases the likelihood of agreements lasting at least 15 years by 35 percent.
Since joining the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2009, Shaheen has frequently been the only woman, or one of just two. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) served alongside her until her departure in 2017, while Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) joined the committee in 2023.
Shaheen believes her elevation to the ranking position is crucial, asserting, “When it comes to something like foreign policy, there is an important lens of recognizing the role that women play globally.”
