Ben Cardin

I have been throughout my State, and I have seen the impact of heroin addictions in Maryland.

We now need to see how we can deal with a more holistic approach on drugs coming into America.

The world has changed and so has transnational organized crime. I think it is important for us to have an update as to where we are.

When we go into these engagements, we need to at least be thinking 30 days out after.

Unless that is in the priorities from the beginning, it gets lost as we go through the process.

I think that is a critically important part for stability in Libya.

Is that a high priority for us? I mean, I understand that we have a lot of political problems, but are we making with our international partners a high priority to make sure that we can stop the tragedies that are taking place in the…

We are not there yet by any stretch of the imagination.

I think we have to act when we have a reason to do it, but we have to think about the consequences after those actions.

Enhancing the GNA's legitimacy is critical for restoring order to the country, bringing prosperity to its people and helping Libya take its place among the community of nations.

Now, let me be clear. If the administration has information about a threat against the United States, then we have to act, and we have to act and do what is safe for the people of our country.

I fear that if we are not careful, if we do not devote the same amount of time and resources to good governance, democracy promotion, and humanitarian support in Libya, then we will simply be worsening the country's divisions and repeating…

Well, we have our people there. I understand the difference between combat and I understand the lines that you are drawing.

There is accountability in there for good governance so that the people of Libya can see the benefits.

Tell me the capacity of the Libyan people to take on ISIL.

We need to extend the ITC for offshore wind and do everything we can to bolster, support, and grow that industry.

The issues you are facing seem very much akin to those faced by two particular energy industries I support.

It was Peabody Coal that made that decision.

It just wasn't fair because we would have to clean up our emissions more and more and more all the time, and at the same time the States we competed with for jobs would end up with cheap energy.

When I was Governor, I used to say that I could literally shut down my State's economy and we would still be out of compliance with respect to clean air standards.

Nothing frost me more than having these very same people still arguing that it can't be done.

Maryland was able to move forward in reducing its carbon footprint on its generation of electricity.

I regret, though, that we did prevent the States from fully being able to fill the void until the Federal Government actually has an effective regulation.

This is going to be the first Congress which will not have a legacy of passing legislation to help protect our environment.

Remember George W. Bush had a proposal they called Clear Skies, and Lamar Alexander and I worked on legislation.