Lawmakers defend foreign policy efforts

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Frustrated with the Bush administration, members of Congress are traveling to countries with poor diplomatic relations with the United States to conduct their own negotiations with leaders the president has refused to meet.

In recent weeks, representatives and senators -- including three from Massachusetts -- have gone to places including Syria, which the United States has denounced for its interference in Lebanon and Iraq, and Cuba, where travel by US citizens is severely restricted.

Representative William D. Delahunt , a Quincy Democrat who has met several times with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez , is mulling another visit to discuss US-Venezuela relations with the leader who called President Bush "the devil" at a UN session in September.

Meanwhile, Senator John F. Kerry , Democrat of Massachusetts, has expressed an interest in going to Iran, which the Bush administration refuses to negotiate with until it stops its nuclear program.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/01/01/lawmakers_defend_foreign_policy_efforts/