Press Releases & Statements
Cardin Introduces Bill to Prohibit a Trump Military Parade
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) is calling on his colleagues to join him in prohibiting federal funds from being used for a military parade - in the style of Russia, North Korea and China - for which President Trump has asked. Last year, Senator Cardin introduced a similar amendment to the FY 2018 budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 71) and introduced his stand-alone bill Thursday. "First and foremost, diverting millions of dollars away from training our troops and supporting our milit… Continue Reading
February 08, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Condemn Trump Administration Cover Up of Evidence Showing Proposed Rule Change Would Allow Employers to Steal Billions of Dollars in Tips from Workers
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both-D-Md.) joined 22 Senate Democrats in sending a letter to Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta slamming the Department of Labor's decision to cover up evidence showing its proposed change to the tip rules would result in employers stealing potentially billions of dollars from their workers. The move exposes the Trump Administration's true priority-helping pad the pockets of corporate interests while working families are left in the d… Continue Reading
February 08, 2018
Cardin, Booker Place Hold On McFarland Nomination
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) Friday, informing them of their hold on the nomination of K.T. McFarland to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Singapore. "Ms. McFarland may have provided information to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that conflicts with recent media reports regarding her knowledge and involvement in matters pertaining to contacts durin… Continue Reading
February 08, 2018
Cardin Assumes Ranking Member Position on Foreign Relations Western Hemisphere Subcommittee
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced that he will assume the Ranking Member position for the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues. Senator Cardin also will continue as the lead Senate Democrat on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). "I am honored to take on a new leadership role as the Ranking Member of th… Continue Reading
February 07, 2018
Cardin, McCain Bill on Burma Accountability Passes Senate Foreign Relations Committee
WASHINGTON - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today passed legislation authored by U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and John McCain (R-Ariz.), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to impose targeted sanctions and travel restrictions on senior Burmese military officials responsible for human rights atrocities against the Rohingya people. The Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act (S. 2060) would prohibit certain military c… Continue Reading
February 05, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Join Colleagues in Urging Trump to Fund National Sea Grant College Program
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both-D-Md.) joined 21 other senators in urging President Trump to fund the National Sea Grant College Program at no less than current levels. In a letter to President Trump, the senators highlighted the important role Sea Grant Programs play in boosting local economies and preserving coastal communities. The National Sea Grant College Program is a critical source of funding for Maryland's Sea Grant College at the University of Maryland… Continue Reading
February 02, 2018
Trump Release of Misleading Nunes Memo Seeks to Undermine Independence of Justice Department and Special Counsel Mueller’s Investigation into Russian Aggression
BALTIMORE - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement. "No one should be confused about what happened today: the president, once again, chose politics over national security. The president and his enablers in Congress have bent over backwards to release cherry-picked, classified information to confuse and distract the American public for partisan purposes. "Rather than marshalling an all-of-government response to protect… Continue Reading
February 02, 2018
Cardin Reacts to Trump’s Misleading Statement about McFarland Nomination Withdrawal
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following after President Trump issued a misleading statement about K.T. McFarland's withdrawal of her nomination to be the Ambassador to Singapore: "The President's statement about the withdrawal of K.T. McFarland's nomination to be Ambassador to Singapore is yet another example of President Trump misleading the American people about the U.S. Senate and our responsibility for ve… Continue Reading
February 01, 2018
Kaine, Cardin Criticize Decision to Prevent Syrians Fleeing Violence from Applying for Protected Status in U.S.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the Committee's ranking member, released the following statement after the Trump Administration announced it would extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Syrians currently in the U.S., but failed to renew the TPS designation for Syrians fleeing violence and seeking to apply to come to the United States. Last week, Kaine and Cardin led nine of their colleagues in sending … Continue Reading
February 01, 2018
Cardin, Portman Statement on UN Human Rights Council Report Compiling Anti-Israel Blacklist
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-OH), co-authors of the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S. 720), issued the following statement in response to the UN Human Rights Council's (UNHRC) report detailing its work establishing a list of companies operating or investing in certain Israeli-controlled territories, which preliminarily targeted 22 U.S. companies: "We strongly oppose the ongoing efforts to compile a blacklist of companies that do business in Israeli-controlled ter… Continue Reading
January 30, 2018
Cardin, Van Hollen Introduce ANTIQUITIES Act to Protect National Monuments from Trump Administration’s Attempts to Roll Back Protections
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) joined a group of 18 Democratic senators in introducing legislation to enhance protections for national monuments against the Trump administration's unprecedented attacks on public lands. The America's Natural Treasures of Immeasurable Quality Unite, Inspire, and Together Improve the Economies of States (ANTIQUITIES) Act of 2018 reinforces Congress' intent in the Antiquities Act of 1906: only Congress has the authority to mo… Continue Reading
January 30, 2018
Cardin, Brown Lead 20 Democrats in Letter To Tillerson: Lack of Trump Administration’s Mandatory Russia Sanctions Impositions is Unacceptable
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, led twenty of their Democratic Senate colleagues Tuesday in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, expressing their concern that six months after Congress overwhelmingly passed mandatory sanctions measures to hold Russia accountable for their destabilizing activities against our country and nations around the w… Continue Reading
January 29, 2018
Cardin Welcomes Administration Briefing, Ongoing Dialogue on Russia Sanctions, Urges Aggressive Enforcement of CAATSA
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Monday after the Trump Administration briefed Senate staff about Russian defense and intelligence sector sanctions issues, per the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which mandated such an update to Congress by today. Cardin was one of the lead authors and negotiators on CAATSA: "The Russia sanctions law includes a provision which mandates… Continue Reading
January 26, 2018
Cardin, Brown, Hoyer, Engel Reiterate Russia Sanctions, Accountability Expectations To Trump Ahead Of Key CAATSA Deadline
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, and U.S. Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House Democratic Whip, and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote to President Trump Friday reiterating their expectations ahead of a key deadline for Russia sanctions and accountability as called for in the Countering America's Advers… Continue Reading
January 26, 2018
Cardin Says Congress Should Ignore White House Immigration Proposal and Stay Focused on Bipartisan Talks
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement after the White House released an immigration reform proposal in the midst of bipartisan Congressional negotiations on the same topic: "The President of the United States created this crisis in September when he put an expiration date on the backs of Dreamers. By releasing such an extreme proposal now, with Congress deep into bipartisan negotiations, the presi… Continue Reading
January 25, 2018
Cardin Leads Bipartisan Senators In Requesting Haley Increase Pressure On Cambodia For Human Rights Abuses
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led seven of his bipartisan colleagues Wednesday in a letter to UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, requesting that she use the influence of her office and the tools within the international organization, "to isolate the Cambodian government, pressure them to reverse course, and-should they not reverse course-ensure that they gain no validity from an illegitimate 'election' that is neither free nor fai… Continue Reading
January 25, 2018
Cardin Reflects on U.S. Foreign Policy One Year into the Trump Administration
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the following speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate Thursday, reflecting on U.S. foreign policy one year into the Trump Administration: "I come to the floor today to reflect on the troubling foreign policy of President Donald Trump one year into his Administration. "A recent poll out from Gallup showed a dramatic reduction in global public opinion toward the United States. Confide… Continue Reading
January 24, 2018
Cardin Asks Tillerson to Respect USAID’s Independence, Urges Empowerment of Green to Declare USAID’s Mission
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Wednesday, urging him to rescind the U.S. Agency for International Development's mission statement, revise it to reflect the Agency's independence and commitments to democracy promotion and ending extreme poverty, and to give ownership of the mission to Administrator Mark Green by allowing him to announce the Agency's revised final mission statement. … Continue Reading
January 23, 2018
Floor Statement on Offshore Drilling
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I will take this time to go over with my colleagues the reasons why I unequivocally oppose the Trump administration's decision to allow oil and gas drilling along our Atlantic coast. There are many reasons why I oppose this policy. One is that the risk to the environment is too great. The Atlantic coast contains some of the most pristine coastlines in America. This region is very much aware of the importance of the Chesapeake Bay and how fragile the Chesapeake Bay is … Continue Reading
January 22, 2018
Cardin: “We needed to take a stand to keep this budget can from being kicked down the road again and again and again.”
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, released the following on his vote to reopen the federal government. Video of Senator Cardin speaking after the vote can be downloaded here. "Four months into the fiscal year, Republicans, who control the White House and both houses of Congress, finally understand that we cannot govern from continuing resolution to continuing resolution. It took ex… Continue Reading
