Ben Cardin actually said...

"There is nothing conservative about starving our foreign policy budget of a few billion dollars today in order to spend a trillion dollars later on when an otherwise avoidable crisis strikes or an arm..."

"We support voluntary participation in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative."

"We must not leave any doubt that this country will break its oil dependence on unstable and unfriendly regimes."

"Smart and able diplomacy and development policy can neutralize threats before they become crises."