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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...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the author of the Sergei Magnitsky and Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Acts, released the following statement Thursday, the eighth anniversary of Mr. Magnitsky’s death:  “Like any good lawyer, Sergei...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Wednesday regarding the ongoing political crisis in Zimbabwe. The African Union has called for restraint, and for respect for constitutional order: “The military’s actions in Zimbabwe have all of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Tuesday regarding the humanitarian situation in Yemen and Saudi Arabia’s role: “Saudi Arabia’s announcement that they will begin reopening air and seaports in areas controlled by the Yemeni...

“The State Department and USAID, I would offer, are every bit as vital and critical an element of our national security as the Department of Defense, the intelligence community, our law enforcement, or the myriad others in the federal government who work tirelessly every day to protect our security, extend our prosperity, and promote our...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the following opening remarks Tuesday at a hearing on the authority to order the use of nuclear weapons: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I almost always, in a perfunctory way, thank you for holding hearings but in this case, I...