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Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, the United States Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution introduced by Senator Todd Young (R-IN) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-MD) calling for an urgent and comprehensive diplomatic effort to address political obstacles in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Wednesday after U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the Committee chairman, announced he would retire from the Senate when his term expires at the end of 2018: “Bob Corker is a consummate statesman and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Monday after President Trump issued a revised travel ban last night: “President Trump’s attempt to repackage his Muslim ban won’t work. I am hopeful the Supreme Court will ultimately act...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) were joined by their colleagues U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) in a letter Wednesday expressing solidarity with pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, Alex Chow, and Nathan Law, who are currently serving jail time for...

WASHINGTON – Seven Senate national security Ranking Members wrote to senior Trump Administration officials Wednesday, reminding them of their legal obligations to report to Congress on potential Iranian breaches of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as mandated by the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA) of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Wednesday after a major earthquake struck outside Mexico City yesterday. As of press time, the death and injury toll continues to rise: “I am devastated by the growing loss of life and injuries in and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement after President Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly: "In his first major address to the United Nations as President of the United States, Mr. Trump missed a real opportunity to demonstrate...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), all members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today praised committee passage of legislation that strengthens U.S. global leadership in the fight to end modern slavery and human trafficking. The Trafficking Victims...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) today applauded a $25 million award from the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) for the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS). The funding establishes a bold global fund...

Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Cory Gardner, Ranking Member and Chair of the East Asia Subcommittee, today thanked Armed Services Committee leadership John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.)  for agreeing to include their amendment that...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered the following opening remarks Tuesday at a nominations hearing for Mr. Eric Ueland, the nominee to serve as the Undersecretary for Management at the Department of State: “Mr. Ueland, it’s good to see you, a member of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement in commemoration of the 16th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks: “Sixteen years ago, nearly 3,000 innocent people lost their lives in terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) sent the following letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley expressing concern about Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales’ attempt to expel Mr. Ivan Velásquez, head of the United Nations’...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Wednesday amidst escalating violence in Rakhine, Burma: “I remain deeply concerned by escalating violence against the Rohingya minority in Rakhine state. New reports of horrific crimes, including rape,...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement after receiving a letter from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson regarding the State Department’s planned organizational changes related to ambassadors-at-large, special envoys and related...

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 latest tweet on North Korea: “Yesterday, the President said all options remain on the table related to North Korea. Today, he has rejected dialogue and...

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 a ballistic missile over Japan: “The latest provocation from Kim Jong-un’s regime, directly threatening our treaty ally Japan, has further heightened tensions...

BALTIMORE - U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Thursday after news reports confirmed more than 400 people lost their lives and 600 were still missing from mudslides that occurred on a hillside in Regent, a mountainous town 15 miles east of Freetown, after heavy...

BALTIMORE – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement regarding the State Department’s release of the International Religious Freedom Report for 2016: “In too many places around the world, governments are implementing legal restrictions on religious...

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,...