Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations released the following statement

“As Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, I want to wish a Happy New Year to our Southeast Asian friends celebrating their New Year’s festivals from April 13-16. These Buddhist New Year’s festivals mark a time of renewal and cleansing, of respect to elders and a celebration of life.

“To our Thai friends I wish Suk san wan songkran; to our Laotian friends Soukde pbeemai; to our Cambodian friends, Sur sdei chhnam thmei; and best wishes to our Burmese friends on their holiday, Thingyan. I also send New Year’s greetings to our friends throughout South Asia, the United States and the world who are celebrating their own New Year’s festivals at this time, including the Assamese, Bengali, Oriya, Malayali, Punjabi, Sinhalese and Tamil.”