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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the following opening remarks Wednesday at a hearing on “The Use of Force: Strategic, Political and Legal Considerations.”: “Mr. Chairman, thank you for convening this hearing.  As I said when Secretaries Tillerson...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding ongoing personnel, management and mission statement issues at the State Department. The following remarks were prepared for delivery: “M. President. I come to the floor today...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Tuesday after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson addressed employees of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development: “Secretary Tillerson missed an opportunity today to put the...

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...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Friday after UN peacekeepers were attacked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing at least 14 and injuring at least 40: “I strongly condemn today’s brutal attack in the Democratic...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Thursday related to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen:  “I am relieved that the White House is finally engaged on the crisis in Yemen.  The humanitarian crisis in Yemen has been...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Wednesday in reaction to President Trump’s announcement that the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and eventually relocate the American embassy there from Tel Aviv: “The...

WASHINGTON – The entire Democratic membership of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led by Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-Md.), wrote to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Wednesday, raising a number of concerns about his attempt to reorganize the State Department, cut its budget and personnel, and the manner in which the Administration...

Foreign Relations Committee Members Call for Greater Transparency with Congress and Immediate Lifting of the Department’s Hiring Freeze Senators Challenge Assumption that Nation’s Need for Diplomatic Capacity Will Decline WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) sent a...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, entered the following statement into the Congressional Record Friday in commemoration of World AIDS Day 2017: “Today, I rise to recognize World AIDS Day.  It may be hard to remember, but there was a time when Congress could put...

WASHINGTON – Expressing deep concern over recent reports of slave auctions in Libya, U.S. Senators Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today urged President Donald J. Trump to make elimination of slavery a priority for U.S. policy toward Libya. President Trump...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Wednesday amid irregularities in the aftermath of the Honduran presidential election: “I am concerned about ongoing delays and reports detailing irregularities in the Honduran presidential election. It...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Tuesday after North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that fell into the Sea of Japan: “North Korea's ICBM test today is another indication that despite attempts to increase...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the following remarks at a nomination hearing for the Assistant Secretaries of State positions for International Security and Nonproliferation, and Verification and Compliance: “Senator Rubio, thank you for conducting this...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Friday in reaction to the large bombing of and subsequent shooting at a Sufi mosque in the Sinai region of Egypt that killed hundreds of victims and injured many others. As of press time, no one had claimed...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), released the following statement Wednesday welcoming the conviction of Ratko Mladic on genocide, crimes against humanity, and other war-related crimes committed...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) released the following joint statement Tuesday ahead of the Paraguayan trial in the murder of Marylander Alex Villamayor: “More than two years have passed since Alex Villamayor, a U.S. citizen and Marylander, was murdered in Encarnación, Paraguay. Alex...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led 14 of his colleagues Tuesday in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, urging him to withdraw the Department’s recent recommendation that a key extractive industry transparency provision be completely repealed by Congress....

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Tuesday after the State Department announced that Haitians in the United States on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) would need to leave the country by July 2019: “I am deeply concerned that the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday requesting documents related to the Department’s assessment of country conditions in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Haiti. The request also includes the Department’s...