Press Releases & Statements
Cardin, Van Hollen Urge Senate Rules Committee to Mandate Transparency in Foreign Ownership of Companies Running U.S. Election Systems
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (Both D-Md.) are calling on the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Rules Committee to sponsor an amendment protecting American election systems from unknown foreign ownership. In response to the revelation that a Russian oligarch has become the largest investor in a fund tied to the company that hosts Maryland's election systems, including voter registration and election results websites, Maryland's senators have been working close… Continue Reading
August 15, 2018
Cardin, Boozman Introduce Resolution to Elevate U.S. Efforts to End Violence Against Children
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) joined his colleague U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) in introducing a resolution Wednesday that recognizes the harmful impact that violence has on child development, calls for a comprehensive and coordinated strategy to end violence against children globally and reaffirms the Senate's commitment to ending their suffering. The introduction of the resolution follows International Youth Day, which was August 12. According to the World Health Organizatio… Continue Reading
August 14, 2018
Cardin, Torres Legislation to Combat Corruption in Central America Becomes Law
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) and U.S. Representative Norma J. Torres (D-CA) issued the following comments after President Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law. The NDAA included a provision that will require the Secretary of State to provide Congress with a list of individuals, including government officials, who have committed serious acts of corruption, drug trafficking, and illicit campaign finance in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. T… Continue Reading
August 10, 2018
Cardin Encourages Peace and Compassion on the One-Year Anniversary of the Deadly Charlottesville Protests
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Special Representative on Anti-Semitism, Racism, and Intolerance for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, issued the following statement on the upcoming one-year anniversary of the deadly protest in Charlottesville, Va., and the planned marches in Washington, DC and elsewhere this weekend. "As we reflect on the events that transpired one year ago, we honor the memories and lives of those killed durin… Continue Reading
August 07, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Call on CFIUS to Investigate ByteGrid
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) today sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who also serves as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), requesting that the Committee review the transaction between AltPoint Capital, a venture fund whose largest investor is Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin, and ByteGrid LLC, a U.S. web hosting and data center company that is deeply involved in Maryland's election infrastruct… Continue Reading
August 02, 2018
Cardin Statement on the Passing of Ronald Dellums
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) released the following statement on the passing of former Congressman Ron Dellums, founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus: "Ronald Dellums was a dedicated public servant and a fierce champion for social and economic justice for all. Throughout his 27 years in Congress, he fought fearlessly for his constituents in Oakland, California and against injustice as it happened in America and throughout the world. He was a prominent opponent of the… Continue Reading
August 02, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Advance Maryland Priorities in Senate-Passed Spending Bill
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen lauded Senate passage this week of the Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriations for Agriculture & the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; Financial Services and General Government; and Interior and Environment. The package, which provides funding for the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program and safe drinking water, WMATA/Metro and the Purple Line, as well as a 1.9 percent pay increase for federal civilian … Continue Reading
August 02, 2018
Cardin, Graham, Menendez, Gardner, McCain, Shaheen Introduce Hard-Hitting Russia Sanctions Package
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Cory Gardner (R-CO), John McCain (R-AZ) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced the Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act of 2018, comprehensive legislation that will increase economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on the Russian Federation in response to Russia's continued interference in our elections, malign influence in Syria, aggression in Crimea, and other activities. "It is once… Continue Reading
August 02, 2018
Cardin Announces Several Small Business Priorities in National Defense Bill
Washington - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, today announced several provisions in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) specifically focused on supporting small businesses in Maryland and nationwide. The annual defense funding bill passed the Senate Wednesday. The Senate legislation includes two provisions written by Senator Cardin to help speed payments and other forms of competitive funding … Continue Reading
August 02, 2018
Cardin Joins More Than 100 Members of Congress in Demanding TPS Be Reinstated for El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) joined a bipartisan group of 110 members of Congress in calling on the Trump Administration to reinstate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of immigrants legally living in the United States. The letter comes after the State Department released a series of internal documents showing the Trump Administration's overtly political decisions to terminate TPS for El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti despite warnings of grave consequences … Continue Reading
August 01, 2018
Cardin’s Efforts to Protect Maryland Defense Jobs, Advance Global Human Rights Included in National Defense Bill
WASHINGTON - The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by the Senate Wednesday includes numerous provisions authored by U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The bill now heads to the White House after the House of Representatives passed the legislation last week. Senator Cardin successfully fought back an effort that would have saw thousands of Maryland jobs leave the state. More than half the 8,200 personnel at the Defense Infor… Continue Reading
July 31, 2018
Cardin Joins Colleagues in Introducing Legislation Banning Untraceable, Undetectable and Downloadable 3D "Ghost" Guns
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) joined his colleagues Tuesday to introduce legislation to ban untraceable, undetectable and downloadable 3D "ghost" guns. "A firearm is a firearm, period. If this illogical and dangerous plan moves forward to make widely available blueprints so that anyone can build their own gun, then gun kit manufacturers and distributors must be held to the same regulatory standards for similar firearms," said Cardin. The Untraceable Firearms Act of 2018 would inc… Continue Reading
July 31, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Announce $156,101 in Federal Funding to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for Oyster Habitat Restoration in the Choptank River
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) announced today that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded a $156,101 federal grant to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for a restoration project in the Choptank River Habitat Focus Area. This project includes oyster restoration efforts that will increase the population of native Eastern oysters in the Little Choptank River and Tred Avon River as well as the installation of a living shoreline in… Continue Reading
July 30, 2018
All Democratic Members of the Maryland Congressional Delegation Request Extension for Public Comment Period on Title X Gag Rule
WASHINGTON - Senators Cardin and Van Hollen and Representatives Cummings, Hoyer, Sarbanes, Delaney, Brown, Raskin and Ruppersberger, all Members of the Maryland Congressional Delegation, have sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Office of Management and Budget Administrator Neomi Rao, requesting an extension for the public comment period for the proposed Title X gag rule. "We are writing to request that you extend the public comment period for the gag rule propose… Continue Reading
July 26, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Demand Answers from SSA’s Treatment of Unions and Federal Employees
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) are raising serious concerns about the treatment of unions and federal employees at the Social Security Administration (SSA), following President Trump's recent executive orders attacking civil servants. They have sent separate letters to SSA's Acting Commissioner and Associate Commissioner for Labor-Management and Employee Relations [LINK], the nominee to be the Commissioner [LINK], and the nominee to be the Deputy Commissi… Continue Reading
July 26, 2018
Cardin Defends Freedom of the Press on U.S. Senate Floor
Remarks as delivered on July 26, 2018: "I rise today to talk about the importance of a free press and its role, since the founding of our Nation, in protecting the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans. "I was on the Senate floor on July 12th talking about a recent tragedy, a mass shooting at the Annapolis-based Capital Gazette. A man who had a long-standing grudge against the newspaper for accurately reporting news about him shot his way into the newsroom and killed five good peo… Continue Reading
July 26, 2018
Voter Intimidation, Efforts to Suppress the Vote with False Information Would be Illegal Under New Bill
WASHINGTON - Aiming to combat efforts to intimidate or disenfranchise voters, U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), and Patrick Leahy (Vt.) today introduced legislation that would prohibit and penalize knowingly spreading of misinformation, such as incorrect polling locations, times, or the necessary forms of identification in order to suppress voter turnout. "Nearly 50 years after Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, we are still fighting to ensure … Continue Reading
July 26, 2018
Cardin, McCain File Legislation to Add Sergei Magnitsky Law to CAATSA
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced legislation Thursday to add the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act to the Russia sanctions review section of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Senators Cardin and McCain, the co-authors of the 2012 Magnitsky Act, remain concerned about the Administration's posture toward Russia, particularly after the Helsinki Summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. The l… Continue Reading
July 26, 2018
Cardin, Portman Introduce Protecting Taxpayers Act to Make IRS More Responsive & Accountable to Taxpayers
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) today unveiled bipartisan legislation - the Protecting Taxpayers Act - to reform a number of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) functions and administrative practices in order to make the agency more responsive and accountable to taxpayers. Specifically, the bill is designed to (1) revitalize the IRS organizational structure and management; (2) increase taxpayer protections and modernize enforcement procedures; (3) improve small… Continue Reading
July 25, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Call on Republicans to Drop Harmful Plan Discriminating Against Potential Foster or Adoptive Parents and Youth in Foster Care
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Van Hollen (both D-Md.) today joined 38 of their Senate colleagues in an effort to stop congressional Republicans from promoting discrimination against LGBTQ Americans seeking to be foster or adoptive parents. In a letter to Senate appropriators, the senators slammed a House Republican proposal passed earlier this month that would shield taxpayer funded adoption and child welfare agencies that refuse to provide services to children and parents on the ba… Continue Reading
