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WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced a Senate resolution Wednesday condemning excessive use of force by Ethiopian security forces that led to hundreds of deaths last year, and calling on the Ethiopian government to release all political opposition, dissidents, activists, and journalists and to respect...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on the announcement of a Special Counsel to take control of the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the “Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and related...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Tuesday after President Trump tweeted that he shared intelligence information with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in the Oval Office, seemingly confirming The Washington Post’s reporting...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Tuesday in response to a report in the New York Times that President Trump asked Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey to drop the Flynn investigation the day after Flynn was fired from his...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Monday in response to the Trump Administration’s planned issuance of full guidance implementing the expanded Global Gag Rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy: “President Trump has now...

Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is House minority whip. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) is the ranking minority member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Last week, President Trump met in the Oval Office with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov — a staunch defender of Russian aggression abroad and repression at home. In that meeting, according to the...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act, legislation that would update and reauthorize the 2004 law promoting human rights and freedom in North Korea. “The human rights...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the Ranking Member and Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to President Trump Wednesday urging his Administration to take necessary steps to routinely exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea. The South China Sea is one of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has written to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly requesting humanitarian or refugee status for LGBT individuals in Chechnya, Russia. Recent media and civil society reporting indicates Chechen...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Tuesday after reports emerged of  capsized boats in the Mediterranean Sea with approximately 250 refugees feared drowned: “I am deeply troubled by this tragedy. For years, we have seen men and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Tuesday after exit polls and media outlets projected that Moon Jae-in was elected president of South Korea. Ahead of official certification, Mr. Moon has also claimed victory and his opponents have conceded...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the following remarks Tuesday at a hearing on the nomination of John J. Sullivan to serve as Deputy Secretary of State: “Mr. Chairman, first of all let me thank Mr. Sullivan for his willingness to serve our country again. He...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, issued the following statement in response to the firing of James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). “There is little President Trump does anymore that surprises me, but that he would fire the lead...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Sunday after French authorities declared Emmanuel Macron the winner of the country’s presidential run-off election: “I congratulate Emmanuel Macron for his victory in today's French presidential...

WASHINGTON – The Democrats on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led by Ranking Member Ben Cardin of Maryland, introduced a resolution Thursday stating that the United States should work in cooperation with the international community and continue to exercise global leadership to address the causes and effects of climate change. The...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced legislation Thursday to restrict the exportation of certain defense articles by the United States to the Philippine National Police, support human rights and civil society organizations in the Republic of the Philippines, and report on sources of narcotics entering...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and John McCain (R-Ariz.), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, introduced a Senate resolution Thursday reaffirming the United States’ strategic partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Wednesday to commemorate World Press Freedom Day: “On World Press Freedom Day, we pause to celebrate and take stock of the role that free media plays in a democratic society, to condemn the public...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) today led a bipartisan group of 15 senators in urging President Trump to prioritize advocacy for democracy and respect for human rights in the administration’s foreign policy agenda. U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-IN), Edward Markey (D-MA), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Bob...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Wednesday encouraging the Secretary to keep the U.S. party to the Paris Agreement, the largest multilateral cooperative agreement ever reached to address the challenge of global climate change. The Senators’ letter...