Letters from Ben
Capital Wheel, National Harbor, Maryland
These are regular letters to constituents about what's happening in Maryland, nationally and around the world. Beginning as a way to share information during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have become a must-read for Marylanders to connect happenings in our nation's capital to daily life.
Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant
Dear Fellow Marylanders, As you’ve seen from my letters lately, the Senate has been on a roll. We have been getting major legislation passed, like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, and clearing President Biden’s judicial and other nominees. This week, however, we hit a roadblock. On Thursday, we took a procedural vote to start debate on a bill that I cosponsored, the “Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act of 2022.” You may have heard it called by its acronym – the DISCLOSE Act. Senate procedures can get a little technical (aka archaic), but, essentially, the legislation needed a...
Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant
Dear Fellow Marylanders, As you’ve seen from my letters lately, the Senate has been on a roll. We have been getting major legislation passed, like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, and clearing President...
They Won’t Stop With Abortion
Dear Fellow Marylanders, This week, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and dozens of House members introduced legislation that would ban abortions nationwide. A federal ban. This would overturn the will of people in states like Maryland. For years,...
A Life of Service
Dear Fellow Marylanders, Queen Elizabeth II, the monarch who served as the head of state for the United Kingdom and Commonwealth for a remarkable 70 years, has died.America fought two bloody wars against England so that we could become and remain a young...
America is Working Again
Dear Fellow Marylanders, At 8:30am ET, on the first Friday of every month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases what it calls the “Employment Situation Summary.” This is a snapshot in time of how many people are working during the previous month, how...
No Deadline on Equality
Dear Fellow Marylanders: On August 26, 1920 – a mere eight days after Tennessee became the last state needed to ratify what would become the 19th amendment to our Constitution – the amendment was certified and women in the United States of America legally were granted...
A Republic, If You Can Keep It
Dear Fellow Marylanders: James McHenry, a Maryland delegate to the Constitutional Convention, recorded in his journal on the last day of convention that “a lady [Elizabeth Willing Powel] asked Dr. [Benjamin] Franklin, ‘Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic...
Shattering Predictions
Dear Fellow Marylanders: This has been a historically productive Congress.This is not a statement I make lightly, nor did I predict this many legislative accomplishments when we began the current session in January of last year.We have a 50-50 Senate. There are...
Insult After Injury
Dear Fellow Marylanders: Over the past several months, countless small business owners across Maryland have been reaching out to my office, and to me directly, requesting help with their COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program loans. After weeks, and...
Water Resources
Dear Fellow Marylanders: The Senate passed legislation with a 93-1 vote this week that will create and maintain jobs across Maryland and the nation. I bring this to your attention because our economy needs support across the board to keep unemployment low, but also...
National 9-8-8
Dear Fellow Marylanders, This week, I spent time in Montgomery County with U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, Congressman David Trone and Senator Chris Van Hollen talking about mental health and substance use disorders. It was an important...
Intergalactic Inspiration
Dear Fellow Marylanders, It’s been a big week for the Free State: We had Early Voting for the Gubernatorial Primary Elections. The Orioles are back to .500 for the first time in forever. And the amazing crew at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt...
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Dear Fellow Marylanders, Last Monday, I joined an excited crowd in Towson for their Independence Day parade. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of far too many community events over the last two years, so it was truly invigorating to be back walking,...
Rights Revoked
Dear Fellow Marylanders: Last week, the Supreme Court handed down the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, dealing a devastating blow to civil rights in the United States. In a 6–3 decision, millions of Americans lost the right to choose the best health care for...
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
It’s been a week of extremes on Capitol Hill. On the positive side, Congress took one step forward by breaking a decades-long logjam to pass substantial gun safety legislation that will help save lives. On the other side, on Thursday, the Supreme Court handed down a...
Not Pretty, But Important
Dear Fellow Marylanders: For about the last 10 days, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (January 6th Committee), has been holding public hearings to share the results of their...
Chesapeake Currents
Dear Fellow Marylanders: The Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure. For Marylanders, the Chesapeake Bay is an iconic part of our culture, economy and history. With this in mind, the Chesapeake Bay Report Card is an important annual milestone worthy of attention. This...
Love is Love – At Risk in 2022
Dear Fellow Marylanders: Welcome to Pride Month, a time for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI+) community to rightly celebrate its progress and for all of us to reflect on how we can build a more tolerant, inclusive, supportive...
Enough is Enough
Dear Fellow Marylanders: Last week, I wrote you with my thoughts, sadness and anger, about the senseless, hate-filled violence that took the lives of 10 people in a Buffalo grocery store. Days after this horrific scene, our nation is faced with the reality that...
Hate + Guns
Dear Fellow Marylanders: Last weekend, when I heard that 10 people were gunned down in a Buffalo grocery store, my mind started racing. While I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to soak in the horrific news, I was simultaneously sad, angry, fearful and...
One Million Lost
Dear Fellow Marylanders: Over the last two years, we have lost family and friends, colleagues and neighbors, while coping with countless other economic, social and emotional challenges brought on by the pandemic. We have been able to return to some normal...
Mother’s Rights
Dear Fellow Marylanders: This Sunday, families across our country will come together to celebrate Mother’s Day and the beginning of National Women’s Health Week. Usually, this is an opportunity to recognize the mothers in our lives and the progress we have made...
National Small Business Week
When I first joined the Senate. I asked to become a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. In the Senate, this is one of the smaller committees, in terms of resources and staff, but I knew that it was going to be a place where I could...
Earth Day Everyday
Dear Fellow Marylanders: Hello and Happy Day-After Earth Day! April presents the opportunity to celebrate several nature-focused holidays, including Earth Day on April 22, Maryland Arbor Day on April 9 and National Arbor Day on April 29. These celebrations provide a...
Freddie Gray
Dear Fellow Marylander: April 19 will mark seven years since the tragic death of Freddie Gray, who was grievously injured while in the custody of the Baltimore City Police. Within days of his death, as unrest enveloped our city, I wrote to Attorney General Eric...
Justice Jackson
April 9, 2022 Dear Fellow Marylanders: This was a good week in the United States Senate. Thursday, as I voted to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court – the highest court in our nation – I experienced one of...
Equal Rights Always
April 2, 2022 Dear Fellow Marylander: In the last few days, we have seen a female nominee for the nation’s highest court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, navigate her confirmation hearings with a rare combination of expertise, wisdom and grace. We also paused to mark the...
The Cost of War (Ukraine)
March 26, 2022 Dear Fellow Marylander, As I write, much of the world has been turned upside down by Russia’s unprovoked and unconscionable invasion of Ukraine, which was launched just over a month ago. In four bloody weeks of warfare, we have seen tens of thousands of...
A Fork in the Road to Recovery
March 19, 2022 Dear Fellow Marylanders: We are at a critical decision point in our battle against COVID-19. While still losing far too many Marylanders to the virus, we have reached a stage where most of us are able to resume many of the daily activities we used to...
