Ben Cardin

Democracy is nothing without checks on government power.

I have known Dr. Aaron for many, many years, and I want the leadership of this committee to know that I have considered Dr. Aaron to be a straight-talker.

The outcome of the Russia-Ukraine crisis--and the response of the West--may determine the prospects for democracy for Russia's neighbors and well beyond Eurasia.

By imposing further sanctions now, we would aim to preempt, rather than react to, the possibility that Putin will invade other parts of Ukraine.

I support the legislation introduced last week by Senate Republicans designed to deter further Russian aggression.

Putin's appetite will show no limits unless we impose a serious price for his aggression.

What has been done so far is simply not enough and is taking too long.

The sooner Ukraine votes for a new President in a credible, democratic fashion, the better off the country will be.

It is a mistake, in my view, to wait either for Putin to move Russian tanks across the Ukrainian border or for him to disrupt the May 25 election.

It sounds like the Ukrainians are preparing for the election and they will succeed in having a free election unless there is outside influence that disrupts that process.

Assisting development of real democratic institutions so that Ukraine doesn't squander yet another opportunity.

Sanctions against Russian banks and state-owned enterprises, especially any doing business in Crimea, should be adopted.

Human trafficking is one of the worst crimes in modern times, modern slavery, and we will certainly be focused on that.

My work on the Helsinki Commission is focused on human rights globally, and what happened there with Boko Haram kidnapping girls that are just going to school should be shocking to the entire world.

What are we doing in regards to NATO resources to make it clear to Russia that we are prepared to defend our NATO allies?

So I just would encourage you and thank you for supporting as much of the science information as we can get so that we can make the right decisions.

This is a chance for us to upgrade and to take care of those shad that are particularly important to Maryland's history.

We're very interested, and we have an excellent relationship with the State and with Exelon on this issue.

We know that it's a national treasure, but it's complicated to figure out how we provide the best protection for the Bay for future generations.

I think the watershed improvement plans are going to be critical in the TMDLs as to how we manage the most effective, most efficient, most cost-effective plans based upon best science to achieve our objectives.

You're absolutely right. People identify with their own community, and the way that you've done that is very successful.

Exelon has proven to be a very sensitive partner in our community, as far as community needs.

I started the hearing by saying we're very much interested in expanding, not only maintaining, but expanding clean energy sources.

I was thinking of how we could use that money in the State revolving fund to help in regards to dealing with wastewater treatment.

And it's a lot more cost effective to do it at the local level than it is to try to figure out what happens now that we have all this trapped sediment.