Press Releases & Statements
Cardin Praises Expansion Of Visa Program For Afghans Who Have Risked Their Lives To Support The U.S. Military And Diplomats
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, released the following statement on passage of legislation to extend the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Program: "I am pleased that the Senate passed legislation to provide additional Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghans who have worked for our government, many since 2001, as interpreters for our military, alongside our diplomats and with oth… Continue Reading
July 31, 2014
Bipartisan Group Of 35 Senators Denounce One-Sided Un Inquiry Into Gaza Conflict
Bipartisan Group Of 35 Senators Denounce One-Sided Un Inquiry Into Gaza Conflict UN Human Rights Council Sends Dangerous Message by Failing to Investigate Hamas' Indiscriminate Rocket Fire and Use of Human Shields Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin(D-MD), Chainman of the Helsinki Commussion and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee, and Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), a member of the… Continue Reading
July 31, 2014
Cardin Effort To Protect Cemeteries From Desecration Heads To President Obama To Be Signed Into Law
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission), lauded swift Senate passage of a bill to explicitly define the desecration of cemeteries as a violation of the right to religious freedom. The bill, H.R. 4028, which is identical to Senator Cardin's legislation (S. 2466) introduced with Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), will now be considered by the ful… Continue Reading
July 31, 2014
Mikulski, Cardin Announce More Than $700,000 National Science Foundation Grant To Enhance Cybersecurity Curriculum At Hagerstown Community College
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski (both D-Md.) announced today that Hagerstown Community College (HCC) received a $713,996 federal grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to enhance the college's cybersecurity curriculum and provide its students with more opportunities for hands-on research through a partnership with the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute. The funds will also be used to recruit students to the cybersecurity program, parti… Continue Reading
July 31, 2014
Cardin Welcomes Marylander Carolyn Colvin as Nominee for Social Security Commissioner
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, proudly introduced Marylander Carolyn Watts Colvin today to his committee colleagues at her hearing to be the next Social Security Administrator. Colvin has been serving as Acting SSA Commissioner since February 2013. The Social Security Administration is headquartered in Woodlawn, Maryland. "Carolyn Colvin is dedicated to public service and committed to bettering the lives of others. As Acting Commission… Continue Reading
July 30, 2014
Cardin, Mikulski, Risch Announce Committee Passage Of Bipartisan Resolution Marking 70th Anniversary Of Warsaw Uprising
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), , today announced bipartisan passage by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of a resolution they introduced honoring the 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, which is on August 1. "We look back with pride as the Polish people stood their ground against a mighty enemy despite the odds. I am proud to join Senator Mikulski and Senator Risch to honor this important moment in history," said… Continue Reading
July 30, 2014
Cardin, Mikulski to House: Do Not Punt Highway Funding Bill to 2015; Let's Solve this Now
WASHINGTON - Following a vote by the Senate to face the financial shortfalls of the Highway Trust Fund before the end of this year, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski (Both D-Md.) joined together to urge the House of Representatives to vote quickly to send this legislation to the president. "The Highway Trust Fund is a lifeline for Maryland and other states for highway construction and maintenance resources. The Senate's strong bipartisan vote in favor of an amendment to provid… Continue Reading
July 29, 2014
Cardin Announces Federal Support for Montgomery County Program to Help Veteran-Owned Small Businesses
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, has announced that the Montgomery County Chamber Community Foundation (MCCCF) has earned $300,000 from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for their program to provide technical training to veteran-owned businesses seeking federal procurement opportunities. Last month at a hearing of the Senate Small Business Committee, Senator Cardin pressed SBA officials to find a way to… Continue Reading
July 29, 2014
Cardin Statement On United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution On Israel
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, released the following statement in response to the recent actions by the United Nations Human Rights Council: "I am deeply concerned by the recent resolution adopted by the special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council regarding the ongoing conflict between Hamas and the State of Israel. The resolution makes no mention of the ter… Continue Reading
July 29, 2014
Cardin Credits ACA for Extending the Solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee Subcommittees on Health Care and Social Security, lauded the Medicare Trustees' announcement that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has helped extend the solvency of the Medicare Part A Trust Fund an additional 13 years to 2030. Prior to passage of the ACA, the Part A Trust Fund, which covers hospital payments, was expected to be insolvent by 2017. "The Affordable Care Act is doing exactly what it was inten… Continue Reading
July 29, 2014
Cardin, Mikulski, Hoyer, Edwards, Baker Applaud Selection Of Two Prince George’s County Sites For Short-List Of New FBI Headquarters
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski along with U.S. Representatives Steny H. Hoyer and Donna F. Edwards as well as Prince George's County Executive Rushern L. Baker, III (all D-Md.) today applauded the inclusion of two proposed sites, Greenbelt and Landover, in Prince George's County, Maryland, on the General Services Administration's (GSA) short-list of eligible sites to serve as the future home of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). "We applaud the inclusi… Continue Reading
July 29, 2014
Cardin Hopeful for Progress at VA with Confirmation of Secretary McDonald
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) released the following statement after the Senate voted to confirm Robert McDonald to head the Veterans Administration. "I am proud to have joined the overwhelming majority of the Senate in confirming Robert McDonald to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs and its more than 340,000 employees. As a veteran, Mr. McDonald comprehends the unique difficulties facing veterans and military retirees, and as a business leader, he has demonstrated the o… Continue Reading
July 28, 2014
Statement By Senators Cardin, Mccain, Shaheen And Risch Expressing Disappointment That Charges Filed Against Former Georgian President Saakashvili
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), John McCain (R-AZ), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Jim Risch (R-ID) today released the following statement expressing disappointment regarding the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia filing criminal charges against former President Mikheil Saakashvili and numerous senior leaders of the previous government: "We are extremely disappointed and concerned that the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia has filed criminal charges against former President Mikheil S… Continue Reading
July 28, 2014
Cardin, Mikulski Applaud Senate Confirmation Of Pamela Harris For Fourth Circuit Court Of Appeals
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski (both D-Md.) today applauded the Senate's confirmation of Pamela Harris of Potomac, Maryland to fill the vacancy on the Fourth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Senators Cardin and Mikulski recommended Ms. Harris to President Obama for this position on the federal bench. The Senate confirmed the nomination of Ms. Harris, who is currently a visiting professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and a senior advisor to its Supre… Continue Reading
July 28, 2014
Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Fortieth Anniversary
Mr. President, this past Friday, July 25, marked the 40th anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). In 1974, Congress enacted legislation with the signature of President Nixon that established LSC with bipartisan support. LSC is a private, nonprofit corporation, funded by Congress, with the mission to ensure equal access to justice under law for all Americans by providing civil legal assistance to those who otherwise would be unable to afford it. LSC distributes almost all of its an… Continue Reading
July 28, 2014
On the nomination of Pamela Harris
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, shortly we will have the opportunity to vote on a cloture motion on Pamela Harris for confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which includes Maryland. I urge my colleagues not only to support the cloture motion but to support her confirmation as a judge in the Fourth Circuit. Senator Mikulski and I have a process--and I thank the senior Senator from Maryland for that process--we use in screening recommendations to the President for judgesh… Continue Reading
July 25, 2014
On the nomination of Pamela Harris
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, shortly we will have the opportunity to vote on a cloture motion on Pamela Harris for confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which includes Maryland. I urge my colleagues not only to support the cloture motion but to support her confirmation as a judge in the Fourth Circuit. Senator Mikulski and I have a process--and I thank the senior Senator from Maryland for that process--we use in screening recommendations to the President for judgesh… Continue Reading
July 24, 2014
Cardin Defends Israel’s Right to Defend Its Citizens at the Highest Levels
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission), continues to work across partisan lines to defend Israel's right of self-defense. In two letters, one to President Barack Obama with Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and another to United National Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon with Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Senator Cardin… Continue Reading
July 24, 2014
Cardin-McCain Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act Clears Committee Hurdle
WASHINGTON- U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hailed committee passage today of their Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which would bar human rights abusers from anywhere in the world entry into the United States and prohibit them from using our financial institutions. The bill, S. 1933, would expand the Russia-specific sanctions in the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (Public Law 112… Continue Reading
July 23, 2014
Cardin, Graham, Schumer: Any Ceasefire In Gaza Must Remove Threat To Israel Posed By Hamas Rockets And Tunnels
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) today wrote to President Obama about the negotiation of a cease-fire agreement in Israel. "Any cease fire should create a situation in which Israeli citizens no longer face the threat of brazen terrorist attacks," said the senators. "Israeli citizens have faced over 1800 rocket launches from Hamas since June. While Iron Dome has saved countless lives, over five million Is… Continue Reading
