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BALTIMORE – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has written to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressing his grave concerns about the vast number of high-level vacancies at the State Department. Coming within weeks of the five-year anniversary of the attack on U.S. diplomats in Benghazi,...

BALTIMORE – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following statement in response to the President’s memorandum addressing China unfair trade laws, policies, practices, and actions related to intellectual property, innovation, and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and John McCain (R-Ariz.), Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, authors of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights and Accountability Act (P.L. 114-328), have written to President Trump requesting that his...

BALTIMORE -- U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, Ranking Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement on the President’s latest response to North Korea.“President Trump’s comments were not helpful and once again show that he lacks the temperament and judgement to deal with the serious crisis the...

BALTIMORE - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, issued the following statement after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) voted on a new resolution to impose additional sanction on North Korea following its two recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests. "Today's UN Security...

WASHINGTON – In a letter to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the ranking member and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today urged the U.S. to wage an international campaign against the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) compensation of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement after the Taylor Force Act was approved 17-4 by the committee. Senator Cardin is a cosponsor of the legislation, which now moves to the full Senate for consideration. “I was pleased to vote for S. 1697,...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement on reports that the State Department is declining to spend nearly $80 million allocated by Congress to fight ISIS and Russian propaganda: “I am dismayed by reports that the State Department may...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement on the sanctions bill signed into law by President Trump. The bill, which passed the Senate twice 98-2, also had overwhelming support in the House of Representatives. “I am relieved that H.R....

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Friday after North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that fell into the Sea of Japan: “Today’s North Korea ICBM test is further evidence—if further evidence is...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Thursday after the Senate passed legislation from the House to sanction Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The bill was approved 98-2. The original bill was passed by the Senate in June, also by a 98-2 vote....

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Monday after bombings in Kabul, Afghanistan and Lahore, Pakistan killed scores of civilians in both countries: “I condemn the horrendous bombings today in both Kabul and Lahore and I offer my...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Saturday after the House of Representatives posted its version of sanctions legislation related to Russia, Iran and North Korea: “My preference over the last month had been for the House to take up and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Thursday after the Treasury Department announced a $2 million penalty against ExxonMobil for violations of Ukraine-related sanctions due to its business pursuits with Russia: “In 2014, U.S. sanctions...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Wednesday after the Turkey Director of Amnesty International and other human rights activists were arrested in Turkey: “I am deeply alarmed by the detention of Amnesty International’s Turkey...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made the following opening remarks Monday at a Committee hearing on State Department reauthorization legislation, and reorganization planning by the Trump Administration: “This is an extremely important hearing, the review of the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Thursday after the death of Liu Xiaobo, who was serving an 11-year sentence in Chinese prison after calling for peaceful political change in that country. International health experts and politicians,...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) wrote to Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon Thursday ahead of his meetings with Russian officials next week, urging him not to return the Russian compounds in Maryland and New York that were seized...

WASHINGTON – The ten Senators who represented the United States at the 21st Conference of Parties in 2015, where the world agreed to the Paris Climate Agreement, have written to President Trump today during his trip to France, urging him to reconsider and reverse his decision to withdraw the United States from the historic accord. “As...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the following remarks at a hearing Thursday on the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, and also took the opportunity to raise concerns and later question the witness, Deputy Secretary of State John...