Ben Cardin actually said...

"We have been urging working with Transparency International to develop standards where we can report on the status of anticorruption in the countries of the world."

"I would just urge that we have to figure out a way to break through the bureaucracy of the State Department to make this a much higher priority than it is today."

"If they do not, what should we do?"

"You just violated a tradition of the United States Senate. Senator Byrd would not be happy."