Press Releases & Statements
Cardin, Democratic Senators Raise Alarm Over Human Rights in Cameroon
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raising deep concerns about violations of human rights, the breakdown in the rule of law, and elections fraud in Cameroon. In addition to Senator Cardin, the letter was also signed by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Kamala Harri… Continue Reading
December 07, 2018
Maryland Congressional Delegation Announces $6.5 Million in Federal Funding for Port of Baltimore
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, John P. Sarbanes, Andy P. Harris, M.D., John K. Delaney, Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin have announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $6,554,575 in federal funding for the Maryland Port Authority. The grant will be used to construct a second berth capable of serving ultra large container ships and cargo, as part of the Port of B… Continue Reading
December 06, 2018
Cardin Announces Senate Passage of Small Business Size Standards Legislation
Washington - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, today announced Senate passage of legislation to ensure that small business size standards are calculated using average annual receipts from the previous five years, instead of the previous three. This change will significantly reduce the impact of years wherein businesses experience unexpectedly rapid growth, often causing them to prematurely lose their small busin… Continue Reading
December 06, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Announce $112,000 in Funding for Chesapeake City Water Storage and Infrastructure
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) have announced $112,485 in federal funding to replace Chesapeake City's undersized and antiquated water storage tanks and install 1,200 feet of new water main lines. These upgrades will dramatically improve water quality and water pressure for Chesapeake City residents, as well as expand the town's water storage capacity. "These funds are an investment in Chesapeake City's families, who deserve to know that the water coming… Continue Reading
December 05, 2018
Senator Cardin Calls for Criminal Justice Reform on Senate Floor
Remarks as prepared: "Mr. President, I rise to urge the Majority Leader to bring to the floor S. 3649, the First Step Act, which I have co-sponsored. This bipartisan legislation, introduced by Senators Grassley and Durbin, includes positive prison reforms that the House passed by a 360 to 59 vote, combined with Senate-added provisions on sentencing reform that have passed out of the Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan basis. "Senators on both sides of the aisle agree that our criminal justice… Continue Reading
December 03, 2018
Cardin, Young, Durbin, Rubio, and Merkley Re-introduce Bill to Impose Sanctions on Burmese Officials for Rohingya Atrocities Amid Increasing Evidence of Genocide
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), along with Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), are leading a bipartisan Senate group that is seeking to impose targeted sanctions and travel restrictions on senior Burmese military officials responsible for the atrocities and systematic human rights abuses against the Rohingya people in Burma. Earlier today, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum announced that "there is compelling … Continue Reading
December 03, 2018
Cardin Joins Growing List of Cosponsors for the First Step Act
WASHINGTON - Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has joined the growing list of cosponsors of the new First Step Act (S.3649). Twenty-eight senators, 14 Republicans and 14 Democrats, have now sponsored the legislation to reform America's criminal justice system. "I strongly support the bipartisan First Step Act, which makes long overdue changes to our broken criminal justice system. It makes key sentencing and prison reform improvements and would create a more reasonable legal system as we strive to pr… Continue Reading
December 01, 2018
Cardin Commemorates the 30th Anniversary of World AIDS Day
BALTIMORE - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement marking World AIDS Day on December 1, 2018. "This year, we can celebrate 30 years of progress made to fight HIV/AIDS globally and recommit ourselves to creating an AIDS-free generation. "Last week, Congress passed another bipartisan reauthorization of the President's Plan for Emergency AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Since launching in 2003, PEPFAR has had a transformational imp… Continue Reading
November 30, 2018
Cardin, Wicker Seek to Protect Tuition Reimbursement for Dental Instructors to Reduce Nationwide Shortage of Dentists
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) have introduced legislation, S. 10 - The Dental Loan Repayment Assistance Act that would provide an incentive for dental residents to become dental faculty members to help train the next generation of dentists by eliminating tax liability for tuition repayment programs. The alternative, pursuing private-sector jobs instead of teaching, has been a more attractive route to pay off high student loans because any debt forgivene… Continue Reading
November 29, 2018
Cardin Responds to Clean Federal Audit of Maryland Election Systems
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) released the following statement upon news that the Department of Homeland Security has concluded its audit of the Maryland Board of Elections systems. "It is a great relief that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security audit of the Maryland State Board of Elections found that no compromise has occurred on the networks or related election infrastructure. However, as we turn the page from the 2018 elections to 2020, we know that our adversaries are c… Continue Reading
November 29, 2018
Cardin, Bipartisan Group of Senators Urge Pressure on Chinese at G-20 to End the Use of Exit Bans on Americans
WASHINGTON - Hours before President Trump lands in Buenos Aires for the G-20 Summit, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations, along with Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, are leading a bipartisan group of senators calling on Sec… Continue Reading
November 29, 2018
Following National Climate Assessment, Cardin and Van Hollen Join Senate Resolution Endorsing Findings of Recent Climate Change Reports & Urging Immediate Action
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) have joined a Senate resolution outlining key findings of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and last week's National Climate Assessment. The resolution affirms the signing members' recognition and acceptance of these findings, and calls for bold action to combat climate change. The senators were joined on the resolution by 23 of their Senate colleagues. Notably, the IPCC report found that th… Continue Reading
November 28, 2018
Senate Committee Advances Cardin, Boozman Bill to Empower Women-Led Enterprises Around the World
WASHINGTON-The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced legislation today introduced by U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and John Boozman (R-AR) that aims to eliminate global gender-related barriers and empower female entrepreneurs around the world. The Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment (WEEE) Act passed with a committee amendment. "Investing in women creates a positive cycle of change that can lift women, families, communities and entire countries out of poverty," said Cardi… Continue Reading
November 28, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Call on HUD to Improve Oversight of Lead Poisoning Prevention Programs
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-MD) joined Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with seven of their Senate colleagues, in sending a letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) urging the agency to immediately improve its oversight of lead-based paint hazards in federally-assisted housing to ensure that families and children are protected from exposure to lead. The letter comes on the heels of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report reco… Continue Reading
November 28, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Applaud U.S. Army Corps of Engineers FY2019 Work Plan’s Focus on Critical Navigation, Restoration Projects in Maryland
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) today applauded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) FY2019 Work Plan, which directs the investment of more than $10 million in additional federal funding for critical navigation and ecosystem restoration projects in Maryland. The annual Army Corps Work Plan defines where project money can be spent across the country, above and beyond the itemized funding in the FY2019 appropriations bills. Every year the Army Corp… Continue Reading
November 28, 2018
Cardin Statement on Ending U.S. Involvement in Yemen Conflict
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement after voting to advance Senate Joint Resolution 54, which would end unauthorized U.S. military support for the Saudi- and UAE-led intervention in Yemen. "The conflict in Yemen has become a humanitarian nightmare and our involvement does not advance the interests of the United States, our partners, or regional stability. "America's strategic partnership with … Continue Reading
November 27, 2018
Cardin Responds to General Motors Plan to Close White Marsh Facility
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following statement regarding the announcement by General Motors (GM) that it will be shutting down its facilities in White Marsh, Md.: "Highly green and environmentally friendly, dedicated to building next-generation electric drivetrains and transmissions, and a plant itself that has been designed with an eye toward sustainability. These are the best descriptors for the GM Baltimore operation tha… Continue Reading
November 21, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Urge Trump Administration to Rescind Rule Unnecessarily Punishing International Students
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-MD) have joined 16 of their colleagues in sending a letter to Director Francis Cissna of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) urging him to rescind a policy change that would unnecessarily punish international students who inadvertently violated the terms of their visa. Due to the United States' complex and difficult to navigate immigration and education system, many students do not know they have violated the te… Continue Reading
November 20, 2018
Cardin Responds to White House Statement on Saudi Arabia
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and lead author of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, issued the following statement regarding the White House and Saudi Arabia. "Outrageous and unprecedented. The United States of America is supposed to stand up for justice and human rights at home and abroad. For the president to knowingly come to the defense of an individual who it appears ordered the murder of a political criti… Continue Reading
November 20, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Praise the Naming of Salisbury Post Office After Sgt. Maj. Wardell B. Turner
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) praised Senate-passage of H.R. 4913, designating the United Postal Service Office at 816 East Salisbury Parkway in Salisbury, Maryland, as the "Sgt. Maj. Wardell B. Turner Post Office Building." Sgt. Maj. Wardell B. Turner admirably served multiple deployments with the U.S. Army, most notably as the senior enlisted advisor for the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan in Kabul. He was killed in 2014 after a convoy… Continue Reading
