Ben Cardin

I want to again thank all three of the nominees.

I personally want to thank Senator Gardner for going out of his way to arrange for this hearing so that we could get these three nominees through the hearing process of a confirmation before recess.

In my opinion, the most important impact of my actions came in the winter of 2013-2014, when Ukrainians struggled to build their democracy and rose up against former president Viktor Yanukovych.

I want to underscore the point that Senator Murphy made earlier about Senator Corker and the leadership of this committee moving nominations as promptly as we can to the floor.

Brazil is facing a difficult moment. It is a mature democracy. It is the second largest economy in the hemisphere.

Our relationship with Brazil has gotten stronger, I think we all would agree, in the last year or 2.

I believe we have an opportunity. Chile is a TPP country, and all the TPP countries do understand that they need to make the agreement commitments a reality before this will go into effect.

Our goal is to do both of these things at the same time, to increase the efficiency of the government in Baghdad.

I think that is the right blueprint. It is going to take a lot of attention, and there are going to be a lot of bumps along the way.

Trafficking in persons is modern day slavery.

Kuwait must do better--that you will use your office to make sure that the host country is aware of these concerns.

Thank you for your testimony.

The will of the people themselves for change is the number one weapon against Russia.

We have seen this in the Baltic countries.

Ukraine must also deal with its institutional issues and its commitment to fight corruption at every level, and that is going to be critical to their long-term stability.

Clearly, the factor of concern in Ukraine is Russia and their aggression and what they continue to do in their violations of the Minsk agreements.

If Ukraine cannot get its governance in order, it is not going to be able to make it.

Ukraine has incredible challenges, and Russia is the culprit for its instability today.

But support from the United States can make that more of a reality, so we will be looking forward to your assessment as to what we can do to strengthen that encouragement and our bilateral relationship.

The United States role, as I see it, is twofold. One, it is advocacy for good governance, for promoting the message that governance matters.

Uruguay has certainly been one of the leaders in our hemisphere working with President Obama to advance human rights issues.

Each one of you has served your Nation in an extraordinary way in a career of public service, and we thank you and your families, because we know it is a family sacrifice.

Corruption is extremely corrosive for development.

We need to get a clear message out on anti-corruption that it is going to be tough love.

We need similar creative thoughts in dealing with hunger.