Ben Cardin

The cost-benefit ratios of these laws are well-documented. Multiple factors of 40 to one in the costs associated with implementing these statutes and the benefits that we receive from clean water and clean air.

I just would note that that rule was implemented only after I got a chance to speak.

The crisis in Syria continues. Every day more people are dying. More people are leaving Syria.

Do we have the ability to track how our assistance is being handled within Syria?

But in the auto-IRA, the one thing that we found out is that, for lower wage workers and younger workers, the tax incentive, in and of itself, is not enough to get them to put money into a retirement plan.

I do not think the IRA will substitute for an employer-provided incentive to save.

I have some concerns, putting it mildly.

I am deeply disappointed. We have gone through this many times in the last year or so, and I thought we had reached some understandings on Federal retirement contributions.

I think the budget that you have presented is balanced in that you look at ways in which we can manage our deficit and get it to a responsible level.

I do not think we intended that families would not have coverage.

It is very difficult for them to travel; many of them do not have automobiles.

The most important stakeholders, as Chairman Baucus has pointed out, are taxpayers in this country and the families that depend upon the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and the CHIP program.

Let me point out that the framework that is set up to protect our health has to be based upon best science, it has to protect low-income and middle-income families, and it has to be done in a cost-effective way. That should be our mission…

Senator Inhofe's amendment will cut money from the Environmental Protection Agency that has already gone through, I think, three rounds of cuts from sequestration, and then prevents it from carrying out its mission to regulate our…

We really do need to have a game plan to rid us of this modern form of slavery, and we will continue to do that.

I think there is a role for Congress to remain engaged, because Congress played an extremely important role by maintaining this cause over such a long period of time.

One of the major barometers on good governance is how countries deal with and treat women.

I think that that has paid off enormously in Burma and that it is a major factor why Burma is moving in the right direction.

The military runs and operates their businesses, and that is not a good situation either.

I think Congress needs to remain engaged.

Not only should the United States be pursuing a more serious human rights policy toward China, it also needs to join with other democracies in the region to advance democratic principles.

We want to make sure that they are used effectively. We have very tight dollars.

We want to see whether we can't institutionalize within the region a mechanism that has confidence among a significant number of Asian countries that are dealing with these challenges.

If we are successful in dealing with that threat, and I expect that we will be, long-term stability depends upon North Korea changing its political system to respect the human rights of its citizens.

It was by design that we have our first hearing on the rebalance to Asia, and it is also by design that our focus on this hearing deals with good governance and human rights.