Ben Cardin

Congress should form a bipartisan commission to examine every aspect of American diplomacy.

First, I want to thank our ranking member Hagerty, for his cooperation and help in putting together this hearing.

Training does offer an opportunity for us to make some maybe immediate progress in looking at it this year.

Are we creating too many additional lines of responsibility rather than trying to coordinate things better?

We obviously want our workforce to reflect diversity of our Nation but also the diversity of the global community.

Forty-one years have passed since the last major restructuring of the State Department, and we should seek to update and enhance the State Department for the 21st Century.

Welcome to the first hearing of the subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations on the State Department and USAID management, international operations, and bilateral international development.

When I first started in politics, the location of dredged material was an extremely political and difficult subject.

I am certainly hopeful that through the jobs package and the other work going on that there will be additional resources.

When you weigh the environmental benefits, it really is the right investment and deals with resiliency and protection against erosion.

Thank you for your willingness to take on this important responsibility, and thank you to your family for sharing in the public service.

I would just point out, Mr. Chairman, in closing, that is the livelihoods, the tourism, the recreational use in small communities are very much impacted by the work done by the Army Corps.

The idea that we are going to enhance long term commerce through the effective dredging program through the Port of Baltimore and other ports, and then use that material to build resiliency and to restore and address problems with the…

We write to thank you for your support of patients and providers in the mental health community by introducing the Telemental Health Care Access Act.

For the information of all Senators, this means that there will be three rollcall votes beginning at 3:15 p.m. this afternoon.

All three of you have given so much to our community.

If confirmed, do you commit to working with members of this committee, keeping us engaged and informed as this process moves forward?

It is a pleasure to have you before our committee.

I particularly want to thank her for her service to the people of Maryland.

Your background, record and commitment to public service is very, very impressive.

I want to get your view as to how we can use the tax code more effectively to deal with investment of resources to build wealth and equity in communities across the country that have been traditionally underserved.

We would welcome your suggestions in that regard, because we are very much interested in workable programs to improve diversity among fund managers.

It is interesting that we have provided help to large industries during economic downturns.

We are going to make sure that small businesses are properly represented in those negotiations.

In January, Senator Hirono and I introduced the UPLIFT Act, which would nurture innovation ecosystems in minority, low-income, rural, and other underserved communities.