{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "is_view": false, "human_description_en": "where chamber = \"House\", state = \"MD\" and year = 2018 sorted by date descending", "rows": [["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/with-hr-1-democrats-announce-a-new-program-for-electoral-reform", "With H.R. 1, Democrats Announce a New Program for Electoral Reform", "2018-12-30", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "When the new Congress convenes in January, the very first item on its to-do list will be H.R. 1, a package of good-government and election reforms unveiled Friday by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and a group of legislators led by John Sarbanes, of Maryland. Its contents haven't been fully composed yet, but Pelosi and Sarbanes previewed its three parts in a WashingtonPostop-ed earlier this week: a voting-rights plank that includes updates to the Voting Rights Act, measures to address gerrymandering, and automatic voter registration; an ethics plank that requires the President to disclose his or her tax returns and bans the use of taxpayer funds for congressional sexual-harassment settlements; and a campaign-finance plank that offers matching federal funds for small-dollar donations and requires superpacs to publicly disclose their donors. At a press conference on Friday, Sarbanes said, There's a lot of people out there in the country who feel right now that Washington doesn't listen to them, their democracy doesn't work for them, they're kind of left out and locked out.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-provisions-to-lower-sewer-bills-expand-green-infrastructure-heads-to-president-for-signature", "Cardin Provisions to Lower Sewer Bills, Expand Green Infrastructure Heads to President for Signature", "2018-12-23", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 23, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin Provisions to Lower Sewer Bills, Expand Green Infrastructure Heads to President for Signature \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Bipartisan Water Infrastructure Flexibility Act will help reduce disproportionate impacts of rate hikes for a substantial number of low-income Americans\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t WASHINGTON  U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, praised final passage of companion legislation to legislation he authored in the Senate with Senators Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) that would provide local governments more tools to deal with stormwater and infrastructure challenges. The Water Infrastructure Flexibility Act first cleared the Senate in October and was passed in its final form Saturday.The bipartisan legislation includes provisions to prevent the disproportionate impacts of water and sewer bill hikes on low-income Americans, which has been particularly problematic in cities like Baltimore.The bill would also give communities more autonomy as they prioritize and plan for wastewater and storm water investments.\r\nAmericans have a right to expect that water coming from their taps is safe to drink and that Congress will do everything within its power to ensure that happens at a reasonable cost to consumers. Having clean, safe water should not be a luxury priced out of reach for any person in this country,said Senator Cardin. I am particularly pleased to know that this legislation will help limit the disproportionate impacts of sewer and water bill hikes on low-income Americans, and make critical advancements in the use of green wastewater management strategies.Every community in America  urban, rural and suburban neighborhoods  will be helped by this bipartisan effort to improve our nation's water infrastructure. If consumers cannot pay their water bills, then utilities cannot make the needed repairs and upgrades to their drinking water and waste water treatment plants, nor to the pipes and pumps that deliver water throughout their service area. We can break this cycle with more flexibility and greater federal resources.\r\nThe Water Infrastructure Flexibility Act would:\r\n \r\nProvide communities with flexibility to prioritize investments in wastewater and storm water projects needed for CWA compliance.\r\nEstablish an Office of Municipal Ombudsman at EPA to assist cities in complying with federal environmental laws.\r\nCompel the EPA to promote green infrastructure, which uses or mimics natural processes toinfiltrate or reuse storm water runoff beneficially on-site where it is generated.\r\nRequire the EPA to update and expand the criteria for determining affordability and revise its guidance for affordability measures.\r\n \r\nTheU.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, the National League of Citiesand theNational Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA)have endorsed the legislation.\r\n\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-van-hollen-lead-passage-of-measure-to-ensure-that-federal-workers-will-be-paid-following-trump-shutdown", "Cardin, Van Hollen Lead Passage of Measure to Ensure that Federal Workers Will Be Paid Following Trump Shutdown", "2018-12-23", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 23, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin, Van Hollen Lead Passage of Measure to Ensure that Federal Workers Will Be Paid Following Trump Shutdown \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t The House of Representatives must pass FEFTA as soon as possible so we can provide certainty to the hardworking federal workers who protect and support Maryland and the entire nation.\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t WASHINGTON U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen(both D-Md.) have successfully led a bipartisan effort to guarantee that federal workers will be paid retroactively following the partial government shutdown that began at midnight Friday. By unanimous consent, the senators gained Senate passage of theFederal Employee Fair Treatment Act (S. 861),which replaces a discretionary decision with a guarantee that furloughed federal employees will be paid retroactively, stipulates that all employees shall be paid as soon as possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, and clarifies that excepted employees who have scheduled previously approved leave occurring during an appropriations lapse may indeed take that leave without undue penalty. \r\nA government shutdown has real consequences for hard-working federal employees across the country and the local economies they support. This measure helps make sure that federal workers and the American economy are not additionally harmed by Republicans' inability to find a compromise solution to the appropriations crisis they have created,said Senator Cardin. Make no mistake: Responsibility for this shutdown lies squarely on the shoulders of the president, who said that he would take that mantle.' The problem is that federal workers will take it on the chin, and this measure aims to help soften that blow. The House of Representatives should pass this legislation quickly.\r\nFederal employees should not be punished  and their paychecks held hostage  by the government dysfunction that leads to a shutdown. I waspleased to get this legislation passed in the Senate, and Iurge my colleaguesin the House of Representatives to pass it without delay, said Senator Van Hollen. As we work to end this shutdown, providing our federal workforce with the certainty that they will receive their paycheck is the right thing to do.\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://raskin.house.gov/media/press-releases/raskin-statement-partial-federal-government-shutdown", "Raskin Statement on Partial Federal Government Shutdown", "2018-12-22", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Jamie Raskin", "R000606", "raskin.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(WASHINGTON, DC.)Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) issued the following statement in response to the third partial federal government shutdown of 2018, which took effect at 12:00 a.m. on December 22: \nThe partial government shutdown is a deliberate and premeditated act of shocking irresponsibilityand petulance by President Donald Trump and his willing accomplices in the Republican leadership in Congress. It will go down as another monumental and appalling policy failure of the Trump Administration. \nThis will be known as the Donald Trump-Ann Coulter shutdown. Cowed and egged on by right-wing commentators on Fox News, President Trump proclaimed on national television that he was proud to shut down the government' and to take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down.' Those are his words. So his last-minute effort to shift the blame elsewhere is silly. Trump sought it, he brought it, and now he and his party and deranged polemicists like Ann Coulter own it. \nThe shutdown nightmare was dreamed up by Trump and GOP leaders, but it is being carried out now on the backs of the American people and at least 800,000 federal workers, who we depend upon to make the government work but now must pay the price for such recklessness and indifference.\nOf course, this is not the first time that the Administration has waged war on the federal workforce. Today is the first anniversary of the President signing the GOP tax bill into law, which reminds us that Trump attempted to rescind a modest 1.9 percent planned pay increase for federal workers in the name of fiscal responsibility' while ramming through Congress a bill that grows the deficit by trillions of dollars over the next decade with huge tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. \nIt is unacceptable to make federal workers and their families suffer on behalf of the Administration's policy delusions. President Trump promised that Mexico would pay for his $35 billion fantasy Wall but that promise, like so many others, has just vanished. The Wall is a ridiculous 14th Century solution to a 21st Century problem and a massive invasion of private property rightsthousands of landowners along the border in Texas will tie up this project' for years in Eminent Domain proceedings. \nWith the shutdown looming, I cosponsored the bipartisan Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act, legislation guaranteeing back pay to all furloughed federal workers, including the tens of thousands who live and work in my District. I am determined to see that not a single federal worker or contractor lose one dollar in bargained-for pay or benefits because of the President's impetuous and foolish actions. \nTrump's fantasy wall faces strong bipartisan opposition from Democrats, many Republicans, and a majority of Americans. We will not be bamboozled or coerced into wasting billions of dollars in taxpayer money. \nThe shutdown showdown remains a scandalous insult to democracy and reason. It is beyond time to end this Wall fetish and reopen our government.\nCongressman Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th Congressional District, which includes Montgomery, Frederick, and Carroll counties. He is the Vice Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, a Senior Democratic Whip, and Freshman Representative to the House Democratic Steering & Policy Committee. He also serves on the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee and the Committee on House Administration.\nraskin.house.gov", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://cummings.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/cummings-statement-partial-government-shutdown", "Cummings Statement on Partial Government Shutdown", "2018-12-21", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Elijah Cummings", "C000984", "cummings.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. (December 22, 2018)  Today, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (MD-07) issued the following statement on the partial government shutdown:\nAt midnight, President Trump and Congressional Republicans forced the government to partially shut down. Because of this shutdown, over 800,000 federal employees will go without pay over the holiday season. This shutdown was completely avoidable, and Congressional Democrats offered multiple options to keep the government open. However, the President and Congressional Republicans decided to proceed with this shutdown because of the President's demand that taxpayers foot the bill for his border wall; the same wall the President promised the American people they would not have to pay to build. I urge the President to work with Congress to swiftly find a solution to fund the government.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://ruppersberger.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/ruppersberger-resignation-of-defense-secretary-james-mattis-a-nightmare", "Ruppersberger: Resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis a Nightmare", "2018-12-21", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger", "R000576", "ruppersberger.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(Washington, D.C.)  Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger today issued the following statement after Defense Secretary James Mattis announced his resignation effective at the end of February 2019:\nI am a Defense Appropriator who has met with Secretary Mattis many times. For the past two years, I've told family, friends, colleagues and constituents that I sleep better at night knowing that James Mattis is the Secretary of Defense. Last night, I had nightmares.\nMany of us have relied on Secretary Mattis to be someone inside the Trump Administration willing to speak truth to power. He has worked hard not only to prevent the use of force, but to ensure that our troops are equipped and ready if we must. Secretary Mattis once said that if we continue to deplete the State Department's budget, he's going to need to buy more ammo.' I have quoted this often.\nFrankly, the world is safer with Secretary Mattis behind the wheel at the Defense Department. The President's recent decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria  for the wrong reasons and in the wrong way  is an example of the sort of decision we can expect from the White House without Secretary Mattis in the room. This makes it all the more important for Congress to debate our current Authorizations for Use of Military Force, and determine what role the United States Armed Forces will have overseas moving forward. I look forward to tackling this critical issue with my colleagues as soon as possible.\nSecretary Mattis' expertise has been invaluable during the most dangerous times our country has ever seen, with threats coming from China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, terrorists and cyber criminals. We are indebted to Secretary Mattis for his 50 years in public service.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/congress-sends-cardin-boozman-bill-to-strengthen-womens-economic-empowerment-to-presidents-desk", "Congress Sends Cardin, Boozman Bill to Strengthen Women's Economic Empowerment to President's Desk", "2018-12-21", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 21, 2018\n\t\t\t Congress Sends Cardin, Boozman Bill to Strengthen Women's Economic Empowerment to President's Desk \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON Congress approved theWomen's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment (WEEE) Act, legislation that seeks to eliminate global gender-related barriers and empower female entrepreneurs around the world. The bill heads to the president's desk to be signed into law.\r\nThe bill was introduced in the Senate by SenatorsBen Cardin (D-MD) and John Boozman (R-AR).\r\nInvesting in women creates a positive cycle of change that can lift women, families, communities and entire countries out of poverty, said Cardin, ranking member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I am proud we have been able to work on a bipartisan basis to move forward this much-needed legislation.\r\nProviding women access to tools for economic success supports global prosperity. TheWEEE Actwill empower women to gain control of their financial future while simultaneously facilitating improvements in their homes and communities. I'm proud to lead Senate efforts recognizing the importance of leveling the playing field for women around the world. I appreciate the leadership of Chairman Corker and Chairman Royce to move this bill one step closer to becoming law,Boozman said.\r\nSpecifically, theWEEE Actwill:\r\n \r\nEstablish a development cooperation policy of the United States to reduce gender disparities related to economic participation and opportunity, strive to eliminate gender-based violence, support women's property rights and increase the capability of women and girls to determine life outcomes.\r\nDirectthe United States Agency for International Development (USAID) toinclude efforts that promote equality and female empowerment throughout its programs.\r\nExpand USAID's microenterprise development assistance authority to include small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with an emphasis on supporting SMEs owned, managed and controlled by women; and\r\nModernize USAID's development assistance toolkit to include innovative credit scoring models, financial technology, financial literacy, insurance and actions to improve property and inheritance rights.\r\n \r\nIn addition to Senators Cardin and Boozman, the Senate bill is also cosponsored by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Chris Coons (D-DE), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA).\r\nIn the House of Representatives, the bill was led by Representatives Ed Royce (R-CA) and Lois Frankel (D-FL).\r\n\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/elie-wiesel-genocide-and-atrocities-prevention-act-heads-to-president-for-signature-after-final-house-senate-passage", "Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act Heads to President for Signature after Final House, Senate Passage", "2018-12-21", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,Congresswoman Ann Wagner (R-MO-2),a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, andCongressman Joe Crowley (D-NY-14), Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, lauded final passage Wednesday of bipartisan legislation that will strengthen America's global leadership in preventing mitigating and responding to genocides and human rights atrocities wherever they may occur. The bill is expected to be signed into law by President Trump.   America's strength around the world is rooted in our values. It is in our national interest to ensure that the United States utilizes the full arsenal of diplomatic, economic, and legal tools to take meaningful action before atrocities occur,said Senator Cardin. Tragically, these atrocities are happening today; we simply cannot wait to act. TheElie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Actwill help ensure that United States can do a better job of responding earlier and more effectively to these heinous crimes.  America's moral principles and national security interests require us to take proactive steps to prevent acts of genocide and other mass atrocities, and this legislation will help support that important objective,said Senator Young.The phrase Never Again' must be more than just a phrase. I was proud to work with Senator Cardin on this important legislation, and I look forward to it being signed into law.  We are haunted by repeated failures and missed opportunities to end global tragedies before they begin,said Congresswoman Wagner. There is more the United States can and must do to help vulnerable communities and persecuted people around the world. Good intentions and platitudes like Never Again have not prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians at the hands of the Assad regime, the genocide of Rohingya in Burma, or the brutalities against Muslim Bosniaks, many of whom fled to St. Louis from their childhood homes. I am proud that theElie Wiesel Actis directing attention toward prevention so that we are better equipped to act before violence begins. Let me be clear: genocide IS preventable.  Eliminating genocide and similar atrocities throughout the world is a core moral and national security responsibility the United States government must constantly pursue.The Elie Wiesel Actwill serve as an important tool in that effort by helping the U.S. identify the signs of potential genocide and work to end the violence,said Congressman Crowley.I'm grateful for the work of Rep. Ann Wagner and our Senate colleagues to ensure this legislation passed in the 115th Congress.   Affirms the importance of strengthening U.S. efforts around mass atrocities through interagency tools like the Atrocities Prevention Board (APB); States that preventing genocide and mass atrocities are core U.S. national interests and calls on the Administration to pursue a government-wide strategy to: strengthen U.S. diplomatic, risk analysis/monitoring, early warning, and response capacities around atrocity crimes; improve the use of U.S. foreign assistance to address the root causes of violent conflict; strengthen support to transitional justice mechanisms and local civil society groups in countries at risk of or experiencing mass atrocities; prioritize preventative diplomacy through unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral mechanisms; Requires specialized training for Foreign Service Officers who will be deployed to a country experiencing or at risk of mass atrocities; and Mandates annual reporting to Congress of Administration efforts to prevent and respond to mass atrocities and an assessment of countries and regions at risk of such violence.    ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-and-senate-colleagues-call-on-trump-administration-to-stop-pushing-health-insurance-plans-that-weaken-pre-existing-condition-protections", "Van Hollen and Senate Colleagues Call on Trump Administration to Stop Pushing Health Insurance Plans That Weaken Pre-existing Condition Protections", "2018-12-21", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 21, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen and Senate Colleagues Call on Trump Administration to Stop Pushing Health Insurance Plans That Weaken Pre-existing Condition Protections \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tToday U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joined a group of Senators in calling on the Trump Administration to withdraw recent changes that makes it easier for states to promote junk plans. These health care plans typically lack protections for people with pre-existing conditions and would increase costs for millions of Americans. Under the Administration's new guidance, states can use federal subsidies to pay for these subpar plans by utilizing a section of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) intended to give states additional flexibility to implement targeted improvements that expand coverage, reduce costs and provide more comprehensive benefits. The Senators argue that the Administration is improperly using Section 1332 to allow states to do the exact opposite.\r\nWe have serious concerns they will increase health care costs for millions of consumers while weakening protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions. In light of substantive concerns that we have with the impact on patients, and procedural concerns that we have with the manner in which these significant policy changes have been promulgated, we ask that you immediately withdraw this guidance and re-engage with stakeholders, states, and Congress,said the Senators in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.\r\nThe Senators made it clear these actions did not reflect Congress' intent in creating the 1332 waiver program, stating the Administration's recent guidance significantly changes enforcement of these four important guardrails, undermining Congressional intent and posing a significant risk to consumers that now have affordable and comprehensive health coverage.\r\nAdditionally the proposed changes, which were outlined in guidance provided by the Administration and a discussion paper released a few months back, will allow states to increase out-of-pocket maximums and reduce the value of coverage, weaken essential health benefits, and implement changes that increase health care costs for the majority of beneficiaries if a state can demonstrate costs will be lower for some.\r\nWe ask that you immediately withdraw this guidance and work with us and other stakeholders on policies that maintain protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions and improve affordability,concluded the Senators.\r\nIn October, Senators forced a vote in the Senate on a discharge petition that would have blocked the Trump Administration's rule to expand junk insurance plans. Themeasurewas supported by 50 Senators, including one Republican. Ultimately, the petition did not receive the simple majority needed to pass the Senate and send it to the U.S. House of Representatives.\r\n\r\nThe full text of the letter can be foundhereand below.\r\n\r\nThe Honorable Seema Verma\r\nSecretary  \r\nU.S. Department of Health and Human Services \r\n200 Independence Avenue, SW \r\nWashington, DC 20201 \r\n\r\nThe Honorable Alex Azar \r\nSecretary \r\nU.S. Department of Health and Human Services  \r\n200 Independence Avenue, SW \r\nWashington, DC 20201 \r\n\r\nThe Honorable Steven Mnuchin\r\nSecretary\r\nU.S. Department of the Treasury\r\n1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW\r\nWashington, DC 20220\r\n\r\nDear Secretary Azar, Administrator Verma and Secretary Mnuchin:\r\nWe write to express concern with the Administration's October 22 guidance and November 29 discussion paper on new options for states pursuing a Section 1332 waiver under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The new guidance and discussion paper promote health plans that lack protections for people with pre-existing conditions and low-income families enshrined in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance released in 2015 and adopt new principles that were not envisioned by Congress. We have serious concerns they will increase health care costs for millions of consumers while weakening protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions. In light of substantive concerns that we have with the impact on patients, and procedural concerns that we have with the manner in which these significant policy changes have been promulgated, we ask that you immediately withdraw this guidance and re-engage with stakeholders, states, and Congress.\r\nSection 1332 of the ACA gives states additional flexibility to implement state-specific improvements that expand coverage, reduce costs and provide more comprehensive benefits. In fact, Congress enacted so-called guardrails that waiver proposals must meet in order for the Secretary to approve them. Specifically, waivers must ensure 1) health coverage is at least as comprehensive as it would be under the ACA, 2) cost-sharing and premiums are as affordable as they would be under the ACA, 3) the number of individuals with coverage remains comparable to the number of individuals covered under the ACA, and 4) the waiver does not increase the Federal deficit.\r\nThe Administration's recent guidance significantly changes enforcement of these four important guardrails, undermining Congressional intent and posing a significant risk to consumers that now have affordable and comprehensive health coverage. The waiver concepts, published after the release of the recent guidance, suggests that the Secretary will permit states to use Federal subsidies for the purchase of short-term, limited-duration (STLDI) junk plans that do not meet Federal patient protections. The new guidance will also allow states to count junk plans as health insurance when determining how many individuals are enrolled in coverage.\r\nThis change will allow states to enroll more individuals in subpar plans that do not offer essential health benefits such as mental health care, maternity care, prescription drug coverage or substance use disorder treatment. Additionally, these subpar plans can discriminate against individuals with pre-existing conditions, older Americans and women by excluding these essential benefits. These plans may also charge certain customers more for their coverage, deny coverage entirely, impose annual and lifetime limits on care, and other anti-consumer practices. This use of federal tax dollars for subpar, often deceptively-marketed insurance that barely provides coverage at all is completely unacceptable.\r\nIt is important to note that hospitals, insurers, patient groups and independent health experts have all agreed that the increased use of these junk plans will increase the cost of health care coverage for many Americans, undercut protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions and erode stability in the health insurance markets.\r\nIn addition to the increased use of junk plans, the discussion paper makes clear that the Secretary will also give states more flexibility to increase out-of-pocket maximums and reduce the value of coverage, weaken essential health benefits, and implement changes that increase health care costs for those who need it most if a state can demonstrate costs will be lower in the aggregate. We have serious concerns about how these changes will impact the quality and affordability of coverage, especially for vulnerable sub-populations.\r\nFurthermore, we are concerned that this guidance may exceed the Secretary's legal authority by not requiring Congressional approval to changeexisting law and by subverting the full notice and comment rule-making process. The guidance violates the statute by allowing states to provide access to instead of provision of affordable and comprehensive coverage to at least the same number of residents. It also redefines health insurance to include plans that lack the ACA's consumer protections. In addition, by forgoing Congressional approval and the rule-making process the Administration has excluded an opportunity for public comment from millions of Americans and other stakeholders that will be impacted by these changes. In contrast, the Department finalized the 2015 guidance only after taking into account feedback from stakeholders and experts. The Department finalized this new guidance immediately, without getting any vital input from affected stakeholders.\r\nFor these reasons, we ask that you immediately withdraw this guidance and work with us and other stakeholders on policies that maintain protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions and improve affordability. Thank you for your consideration of our letter and we look forward to your response. \r\nSincerely,\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-cardin-lead-senate-passage-of-measure-to-ensure-that-federal-workers-will-be-paid-following-trump-shutdown", "Van Hollen, Cardin Lead Senate Passage of Measure to Ensure that Federal Workers Will Be Paid Following Trump Shutdown", "2018-12-21", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 21, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen, Cardin Lead Senate Passage of Measure to Ensure that Federal Workers Will Be Paid Following Trump Shutdown \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tU.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) are leading a bipartisan effort to guarantee that federal workers will be paid retroactively following the partial government shutdown that began at midnight Friday. By unanimous consent, the senators gained Senate passage of theFederal Employee Fair Treatment Act (S. 861),which replaces a discretionary decision with a guarantee that furloughed federal employees will be paid retroactively, stipulates that all employees shall be paid as soon as possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, and clarifies that excepted employees who have scheduled previously approved leave occurring during an appropriations lapse may indeed take that leave without undue penalty.  Federal employees should not be punished  and their paychecks held hostage  by the government dysfunction that leads to a shutdown. I waspleased to get this legislation passed in the Senate, and Iurge my colleaguesin the House of Representatives to pass it without delay, said Senator Van Hollen. As we work to end this shutdown, providing our federal workforce with the certainty that they will receive their paycheck is the right thing to do. A government shutdown has real consequences for hard-working federal employees across the country and the local economies they support. This measure helps make sure that federal workers and the American economy are not additionally harmed by Republicans' inability to find a compromise solution to the appropriations crisis they have created,said Senator Cardin. Make no mistake: Responsibility for this shutdown lies squarely on the shoulders of the president, who said that he would take that mantle.' The problem is that federal workers will take it on the chin, and this measure aims to help soften that blow. The House of Representatives should pass this legislation quickly.  ###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://cummings.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/cummings-statement-passage-first-step-act", "Cummings Statement on Passage of the First Step Act", "2018-12-20", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Elijah Cummings", "C000984", "cummings.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. (December 20, 2018)  Today, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (MD-07) issued the following statement on the House passage of the First Step Act:\nToday, I voted in favor of the First Step Act. This bill  as its name states  is just the beginning of needed reforms to our federal criminal justice system. The bill takes significant first steps at reducing mass incarceration through modest sentencing reform. It also provides additional reentry resources to give people a meaningful second chance after incarceration.\nHowever, there is still work that needs to be done to tackle the scourge of mass incarceration and to address the many ways the criminal justice system disproportionately harms people of color.\nAs we look toward the new Congress, I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass my legislation  the Fair Chance Act and the REDEEM Act  and other important measures to continue to reform our broken criminal justice system.\nThe First Step Act includes Congressman Cummings' Maintaining dignity and Eliminating unnecessary Restrictive Confinement of Youths Act (MERCY Act). The MERCY Act prohibits the solitary confinement of juveniles who are tried in the federal system and held in pretrial facilities or juvenile detention facilities, barring some extremely exceptional temporary circumstances.\nI am pleased that my bill, The MERCY Act, was included in the final bill. Compounding incarceration with solitary confinement can break a young person's spirit beyond repair, and it can have devastating long-term impacts on their mental and physical health. The MERCY Act takes a strong step toward eliminating this barbaric practice, to ensure our youth have a chance to be rehabilitated and become contributing members of their communities. \nThe MERCY Act:\n Bans Juvenile Solitary Confinement.This legislation bans the use of room confinement in juvenile facilities, except as a temporary response to a behavioral issue that poses serious and immediate risk to any individual.\n\tRequires Use of Less Restrictive Techniques.The bill ensures that before a juvenile is placed in room confinement, the staff member must use less restrictive techniques, including de-escalation techniques or discussions with a qualified mental health professional.\n\tEncourages Transparency.The bill mandates that the juvenile be informed of why the room confinement placement occurred and that release will occur upon regaining self-control or after a certain period of time in solitary confinement. It also requires that the juvenile's attorney and parents be notified when certain actions are taken.\n\tPlaces Time Limits on Usage of Confinement.The MERCY Act limits solitary confinement on juveniles that pose a risk of harming others to no more than 3 hours and to juveniles who pose a risk of harm to themselves to no more than half an hour. It requires that juveniles be removed from room confinement once the risk of harm subsides.\n\tSets Minimum Conditions of Confinement.The bill ensures that the room used for room confinement in exceptional circumstances have adequate space, lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation, and access to water, toilet facilities, and hygiene supplies.\n\tRequires Post-Confinement Services.After the maximum period of confinement, the bill mandates that juveniles be transferred to a facility where services can be provided.\n \n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/hhs-recommends-co-prescribing-naloxone-with-opioids", "HHS Recommends Co-Prescribing Naloxone with Opioids", "2018-12-20", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congress also has addressed the co-prescribing issue. In 2016, the House passed theCo-Prescribing to Reduce Overdoses Actsponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.). The bill, which became part of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, authorized 5 years of grants aimed at increasing co-prescribing of naloxone in high-risk patients who are prescribed opioids; however, funds were never appropriated for the grant program.... Sarbanes applauded the new HHS guidelines, calling them \"an important and encouraging step forward in our fight against the opioid epidemic.\" ... \"By getting more affordable and easy-to-use overdose reversal drugs into the hands of patients and communities across the country, we can save countless lives,\" he said in a press release issued Thursday.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/sarbanes-statement-on-first-step-act", "Sarbanes Statement on First Step Act", "2018-12-20", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) released the following statement today after voting for the First Step Act (S. 756):\nWhile modest in its design, the First Step Act will make a positive difference in our criminal justice system. This bipartisan bill will reduce federal mandatory minimum sentences for low-level and non-violent drug offenders, help low-risk inmates successfully reenter society and improve treatment services for inmates suffering from opioid addiction.\nWhen it comes to mass incarceration and prison reform in America, we have much more work to do. I look forward to continue working with my colleagues to achieve the kind of comprehensive criminal justice reform that our country desperately needs.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/spurred-by-sarbanes-bill-to-tackle-opioid-crisis-hhs-recommends-co", "Spurred by Sarbanes Bill to Tackle Opioid Crisis, HHS Recommends Co-Prescribing Overdose Reversal Drugs to High-Risk Patients", "2018-12-20", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  Prompted by the Co-Prescribing to Reduce Overdoses Act, a bill authored by Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) and signed into law in 2016 by President Barack Obama, the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) released new federal guidelines today recommending that health care providers across the country prescribe opioid overdose reversal drugs to at-risk patients.\nThese new HHS guidelines are an important and encouraging step forward in our fight against the opioid epidemic, said Congressman Sarbanes. By getting more affordable and easy-to-use overdose reversal drugs into the hands of patients and communities across the country, we can save countless lives.\nCo-prescription programs are proven ways to reduce overdose deaths. The Veterans Health Administration has successfully distributed Naloxone to all veterans being treated for a substance use disorder or to those who take high doses of opiates. Through this important program, the VA has successfully reduced opioid overdose deaths among veterans.\nFor more information about HHS's new naloxone co-prescribing guidelines, see here.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-votes-to-avoid-a-partial-shutdown-vows-to-continue-fight-for-federal-workers", "Cardin Votes to Avoid a Partial Shutdown, Vows to Continue Fight for Federal Workers", "2018-12-20", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 20, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin Votes to Avoid a Partial Shutdown, Vows to Continue Fight for Federal Workers \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t There is no such thing as a good shutdown'\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t WASHINGTON  U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Finance Committee, released the following statement about the Senate-passed continuing resolution (CR) to fund portions of the federal government through February 8, 2019.\r\nContinuing resolutions should not be the norm in the federal appropriations process. It is a good thing for the American people and especially federal workers that we are on track to avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government right at the holidays. A shutdown would be bad for small businesses, bad for Americans' health and safety, bad for state and local law enforcement, and bad for local and state governments who depend on assistance from the federal government to provide a wide variety of services in communities across this nation.\r\nBut we cannot keep punting our problems next year or next month. This is no way to govern. By failing to agree on a longer-term budget, the President is blocking critical additional funding to combat the opioid epidemic, rebuild our nation's crumbling infrastructure, provide urgent disaster relief assistance, and enhance national security programs to protect our country from constant attacks by our adversaries.\r\nIf not for President Trump's irrational, purely political machinations to divert precious taxpayer money for a wall on our Southern border, Democrats and Republicans would have finished all of our appropriations bills closer on time and on a bipartisan basis. Democrats support comprehensive immigration reform and strong border security  we've worked with Republicans to pass bipartisan immigration reform previously. However, we will not divert billions of dollars of taxpayer funds for a wall that could make a real difference elsewhere.\r\nA partial federal shutdown would mean that many federal workers would go to work without knowing whether they would be paid, or would be furloughed and unable to do their job on behalf of the American people. Also missing from this stopgap measure is approval of a meager 1.9 percent pay raise for federal workers. Federal workers are critical to the operation of our government and provide essential services to the American people in every state across the nation. After years of pay freezes and zero cost of living adjustments, federal workers deserve to be recognized for their efforts and dedication. I will work with my colleagues to determine how we can best make up the difference and ensure federal workers have appropriate pay and the tools they need to succeed.\r\nAdditional video of Senator Cardin speaking about a potential shutdown can be downloaded here.\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/press-releases/president-trump-s-impulsive-withdrawal-imperils-our-national-security", "President Trumps Impulsive Withdrawal Imperils Our National Security", "2018-12-19", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congressman Anthony G. Brown (MD-04), a combat veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement regarding reports that President Trump is considering withdrawing all US troops from Syria and declared We have defeated ISIS in Syria:\nUnilaterally withdrawing US forces before we have fully defeated ISIS is a mistake. Abandoning our local partners and the Syrian people and leaving them alone to confront Bashar Al-Assad, Russia and Iran is a betrayal and a mistake. By prematurely declaring mission accomplished' President Trump imperils our national security. We have not won the fight against ISIS. And we have not achieved peace in Syria.\nFor the last two years, the Trump Administration has been unable to layout a comprehensive and coherent strategy in Syria and has refused to come before Congress for the authority to engage in the sustained use of military force. Congress and the American people deserve answers. What have we actually achieved in Syria, and what role and presence will we play in the future? Why is President Trump rushing for the exits and handing victory to Russia?", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=259", "President Trumps Impulsive Withdrawal Imperils Our National Security", "2018-12-19", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", null, 0, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://ruppersberger.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/ruppersberger-issues-statement-in-support-of-select-committee-on-climate", "Ruppersberger Issues Statement in Support of Select Committee on Climate Change", "2018-12-19", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger", "R000576", "ruppersberger.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(Washington, D.C.)  Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02) today issued a statement in support of a select committee to explore climate change policy proposals:\nRecent assessments completed by both the United States government and the United Nations have determined that bold and immediate action must be taken to mitigate the effects of climate change that are wreaking havoc on our planet. I could not agree more, which is why I have decided to support a select committee to consider solutions including the proposed Green New Deal.\nWe need to work harder and faster to become a carbon-neutral nation and world. The consequences of waiting any longer are too great, not just for our environment, but our economy and security.\nMy support of a select committee is in keeping with a strong record on climate change and environmental protection. I have supported aggressive anti-carbon measures in the past, including landmark efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by creating a cap-and-trade system. I have vocally opposed gas and oil exploration off the Atlantic coast and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I've asked President Trump to formally recognize the findings of the most recent National Climate Assessment and continue to urge him to re-sign the Paris Climate Agreement.\nRecently, I fought for a new windfarm off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland, which will create green jobs for Second District families, where the wind turbines will be manufactured. We need to do this on a national and global level, which is the heart of the New Green Deal proposal.\nI want to thank my many colleagues who have been working on climate policy for years. I would hope the select committee will work in concert with the existing committees of jurisdiction that will have the ultimate legislative authority.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-portman-introduce-sweeping-reforms-to-strengthen-americans-retirement-security", "Cardin, Portman Introduce Sweeping Reforms to Strengthen Americans\u2019 Retirement Security", "2018-12-19", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 19, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin, Portman Introduce Sweeping Reforms to Strengthen Americans' Retirement Security \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Bipartisan Legislation Would Increase Savings in IRAs and Workplace Savings Plans, Expand Coverage & Simplify Retirement Plan Rules\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t WASHINGTON U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) today introduced the Retirement Security & Savings Act, a broad set of reforms designed to help Americans save more for retirement and increase access to 401(k)s and other retirement plans. The measure includes more than 50 provisions to increase savings in 401(k)s and IRAs, help improve coverage in the small employer market and among part-time workers, reduce barriers to lifetime income retirement options, and allow employees to keep retirement savings in an IRA or qualified plan until they need them for retirement expenses instead of being forced to deplete their savings after age 70 and a half.\r\nA link to the bill text is here.\r\nThe legislation builds on Portman and Cardin's previous success in enacting sweeping reforms to enhance the retirement system as members of the House of Representatives in 1996, 2001, and 2006. Of note, the 2001 Portman-Cardin measure more than doubled contribution limits to IRAs, allowed portability between different types of qualified retirement plans, and created the ability for older workers to make catch-up contributions to 401(k)s and IRAs. Since it became law, 401(k) and other defined contribution plan assets have increased by 179 percent and savings in IRAs, including rollovers from retirement plans, have more than tripled. Overall, U.S. retirement savings have increased from $11.3 trillion in 2001 to $28.3 trillion today.\r\nEnsuring that families and workers can retire with dignity is an ongoing, and strongly bipartisan, effort. While we've made important policy improvements over the years, Congress needs to work continually with participants, retirees, and other stakeholders to make sure that retirement security is achievable, especially as our economy changes, said Senator Cardin. I'm proud to once again work with Senator Portman to strengthen our system, including by improving plan access, promoting lifetime income solutions, and helping all Americans save more for their retirement.\r\nOver the last two decades, we've made progress in helping Americans save more for their retirement, but we need to do more. It's a positive development that U.S. retirement savings have increased from $11.3 trillion in 2001 to $28.3 trillion today, said Senator Portman. Unfortunately, our savings rate remains too low and there are far too many Americans without any retirement nest egg at all. After a lifetime of work, Americans deserve the opportunity to enjoy a financially-secure retirement. That's why Senator Cardin and I are once again leading this bipartisan effort to help strengthen the retirement security of all Americans.\r\nNOTE: The senators will continue their efforts to improve this legislation, which establishes a foundation for a broader bipartisan, bicameral retirement policy debate next Congress.The Retirement Security & Savings Act is supported by the American Benefits Council, AARP, Fidelity, Nationwide, Empower Retirement, TIAA, the Committee for Annuity Insurers, Transamerica, LPL Financial, Edward Jones, State Street Corporation, Church Alliance, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Insured Retirement Institute, and the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Plan Administrators (NAGDCA). In order to help Americans save more for their retirement, the bill includes the following reforms:\r\nIncreasing Retirement Savings in IRAs and Workplace Plans\r\n \r\nThe bill establishes a new automatic enrollment safe harbor for employers to meet nondiscrimination requirements. Under current law, the automatic deferral may be just three percent of salary for the employee's first year. The provision would set the minimum default level of contributions at six percent in the first year, and escalate it to 10 percent within five years. \r\nThe measure makes the Saver's Credit refundable and requires that the credit be contributed directly to a Roth account in a retirement plan or to a Roth IRA.\r\n\r\nThe bill also allows taxpayers to claim the saver's credit on their 1040-EZ, and expand the group eligible for a 20 percent credit instead of a 10 percent credit.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe bill allows employers to make matching contributions to retirement accounts of employees paying off qualified student loan debts.\r\nThe bill expands retirement plans to include part-time employees working between 500 and 1,000 hours per year. Under current law, employers generally may exclude part-time employees (employees who work fewer than 1,000 hours per year) when providing a defined contribution plan to their employees. The bill requires employers maintaining a 401(k) plan to have a dual eligibility requirement under which an employee must complete either a one year of service requirement (with the 1,000-hour rule) or two consecutive years of service where the employee completes at least 500 hours of service.\r\n \r\nImproving Access to Workplace Plans in the Small Employer Market\r\n \r\nThe bill substantially increases the tax credit under current law for small businesses that adopt a new qualified retirement plan. Under current law, the credit cannot exceed $500; under the provision, small businesses could claim a credit as large as $5,000.\r\nThe measure allows small businesses to self-correct all inadvertent plan violations under the IRS' Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) without a submission to the IRS, unless otherwise specified in regulations.\r\nThe bill creates a new three-year, $500 tax credit for employer-sponsored retirement programs that automatically re-enroll plan participants at least everythree years.\r\nThe bill provides targeted relief from top-heavy rules in order to encourage employers to allow employees to start saving before the law requires it.\r\n \r\nReducing Costs and Other Barriers to Lifetime Income Retirement Options \r\n \r\nThe bill more easily facilitates the sale of Qualifying Longevity Annuity Contracts (QLACs), a type of deferred annuities that begin payment at the end of an individual's life expectancy, and a very inexpensive way for retirees to hedge the risk of outliving their savings.\r\nThe bill eliminates significant current-law penalties and restrictions on obtaining guaranteed income for life.\r\n \r\nRelief from Onerous Minimum Distribution Rules for Individuals\r\n \r\nThe bill provides an exception from the required minimum distribution rules for individuals with $100,000 or less in aggregate retirement savings.\r\nThe measure increases the age at which individuals are required to begin drawing down their retirement from an IRA or qualified plan. Under current law, the beginning age is 70 and a half; the bill increases the age to 72 in 2023 and 75 in 2030. \r\nThe bill reduces the excise tax for failing to take required minimum distributions, lowering it from 50 percent of the shortfall owed to at most 25 percent, and to 10 percent or zero in other cases. \r\nThe measure requires the Treasury Department to update the mortality tables that qualified plans must use in calculating annual required minimum distributions. \r\n\r\nThe current tables are almost 20 years old and force individuals to withdraw their assets too quickly.\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-praises-new-agreement-providing-new-legal-pathways-for-cuban-baseball-players", "Cardin Praises New Agreement Providing New, Legal Pathways for Cuban Baseball Players", "2018-12-19", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 19, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin Praises New Agreement Providing New, Legal Pathways for Cuban Baseball Players \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON  U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, offered the following statement in response to an announcement from Major League Baseball which will permit Cuban players with a safe and legal path to play for U.S. ball clubs:\r\nI welcome the announcement from Major League Baseball. For far too long, Cuban ball players who wish to join U.S. clubs have had to risk making dangerous journeys or indebting themselves to human traffickers. This agreement will put an end to these dangerous practices, while extending greater freedom to the Cuban people and enhancing our shared national pastime.\r\nI remain concerned about the Cuban government's horrendous record on human rights. As I have long advocated, however, greater engagement  not isolation  is required to increase liberties and freedoms for the Cuban people. This announcement from the MLB is a prime example of this.\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-joins-senate-colleagues-in-urging-president-trump-to-condemn-texas-v-us-decision", "Van Hollen Joins Senate Colleagues in Urging President Trump to Condemn Texas v U.S. Decision", "2018-12-19", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 19, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen Joins Senate Colleagues in Urging President Trump to Condemn Texas v U.S. Decision \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tU.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) today joined a group of Senators in calling on President Trump to condemn the recent decision in Texas v. United States which declared the Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional. If the decision stands, 20 million Americans will be left without the health insurance they rely on. The 133 million Americans and 800,000 West Virginians with a pre-existing condition will be at risk of losing their access to health insurance and millions of families across the country will see healthcare costs rise. If it is allowed to stand, the human costs of this decision will be profound.\r\nThe Senators said in part, It is not too late for you to condemn this decision by requesting a stay and taking steps to defend the Affordable Care Act moving forward. The ACA is, quite simply, the law of the land, and it is your Administration's duty to defend it. Further, even among the numerous, failed attempts to repeal the ACA, there was widespread recognition that simply repealing the law without a replacement would be too devastating to American families and to our economy to fathom. Yet that is exactly what this ruling, if upheld, would do.\r\n\r\nRead the full letter below or click here:\r\nDear President Trump:\r\nWe are writing to express our serious concerns with the December 14th decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in the matter of Texas v. United States and to reiterate our strong objection to the Department of Justice's refusal to defend the law of the land.\r\nJudge O'Connor's decision wrongly declares the individual mandate unconstitutional and inseverable from the remainder of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This decision is not just legally unsound, itis inhumane and cruel.\r\nIf the ruling stands, nearly every American's health care will be affected. The 20 million people who receive insurance coverage through the ACA will be left without the coverage they desperately need. Furthermore, 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions will be at risk of losing access to treatment. And millions of families, women, seniors, and people with low incomes will see their health care costs rise. It is no exaggeration to say that, if upheld, this decision is a matter of life and death to many Americans. We urge you to reverse course and direct the Department of Justice to defend the law of the land and pursue a stay of this decision.\r\nIt is not too late for you to condemn this decision by requesting a stay and taking steps to defend the Affordable Care Act moving forward. The ACA is, quite simply, the law of the land, and it is your Administration's duty to defend it. Further, even among the numerous, failed attempts to repeal the ACA, there was widespread recognition that simply repealing the law without a replacement would be too devastating to American families and to our economy to fathom. Yet that is exactly what this ruling, if upheld, would do.\r\nThe human cost of this decision is profound. As mentioned above, tens of millions of Americans covered in the law's Health Insurance Marketplaces and by Medicaid expansion will lose their insurance, and tens of millions more with health conditions from cancer to heart disease, pregnant women, and people with costly prescriptions could lose access to care or have to pay significantly more for it. It is also alarming that in the midst of the devastating opioid epidemic, millions of Americans suffering from substance use disorders would lose access to the treatment that they need to recover. But it does not stop there. Health care makes up over one-sixth of our economy: the uncertainty for health care providers created by the dramatic upheaval that this decision will inevitably cause will have a substantial economic impact on families, rural hospitals and clinics, businesses, state governments, and more.\r\nAmericans need you to work with us to defend their access to quality, affordable health care. We can work together to improve our health care system and reduce costs, but we must not let this flawed court decision stand and devastate millions of American families both physically and financially.\r\nThe fight for our health care in the case of Texas v. United States is not over. We urge you and the DOJ to immediately request a stay of this order and to uphold the rule of law by defending the constitutionality of current law. Millions of Americans are relying on you.\r\n\r\n###\r\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-pushes-for-federal-employee-pay-raise-in-short-term-funding-bill", "Van Hollen Pushes for Federal Employee Pay Raise in Short-Term Funding Bill", "2018-12-19", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 19, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen Pushes for Federal Employee Pay Raise in Short-Term Funding Bill \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tToday, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen announced that he will file an amendment to the short-term funding bill to provide federal employees with a 1.9 percent cost of living increase. President Trump announced a pay freeze for civil servants for 2019, which he can do unilaterally unless Congress acts. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Van Hollen secured the same pay increase as part of the Fiscal Year 2019 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, which passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support.\r\nOur federal workforce protects our nation, ensures the safety of our food and medicine, delivers Social Security and veterans' benefits, and carries out countless other responsibilities on behalf of our citizens. But President Trump is poised to give them the gift of a pay freeze if Congress fails to act before the end of the year, said Senator Van Hollen. I was proud to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this modest cost-of-living adjustment, despite the Trump Administration's constant attack on our civil servants, and I am going to keep fighting until it becomes law. If we can't get it done as part of this short-term package, it should be the first order of business when we return.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/senate-democrats-join-the-push-for-sweeping-anti-corruption-legislation", "Senate Democrats Join the Push for Sweeping Anti-Corruption Legislation", "2018-12-18", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "House Democrats' first bill of the year  a sweeping anti-corruption and pro-Democracy reform bill known as House Resolution 1  is getting a companion bill in the Senate.... Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) is planning to introduce a companion bill in the Senate early next year, he told senators on Tuesday in a Dear Colleague letter obtained by Vox. The bill text would likely be an update of an existing bill Udall introduced in 2017, tweaked to mirror the House legislation.... HR 1 is the first bill House Democrats will tackle once they retake the gavel next year; it's aimed at stamping out the influence of money in politics, curtailing Washington lobbying, and expanding voting rights. Democrats are hoping to get some Republicans on board as well, but the reality is that Republican leadership in the Senate likely won't let Udall's bill make it to the floor. Still, it's a sign that Democrats in the House and the Senate are serious about proposing a wide swath of reforms that could dramatically change American campaign finance laws, expand voting rights, and institute new rules that crack down on lobbying. Udall and Senate Democrats have been quietly working on these ideas for a long time. On his bill, Udall is already working with Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Ben Cardin (MD), Amy Klobuchar (MN), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Dick Durbin (IL) and others, and is looking for more partners. He has also been working with Rep. John Sarbanes (MD), the Democrat spearheading HR 1 in the House, since May.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-praises-bipartisan-passage-of-the-first-step-act-by-87-12-vote-says-it-must-be-the-start-of-criminal-justice-reform-efforts-not-the-end", "Cardin Praises Bipartisan Passage of the First Step Act by 87-12 Vote, Says It Must Be the Start of Criminal Justice Reform Efforts, Not the End", "2018-12-18", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 18, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin Praises Bipartisan Passage of the First Step Act by 87-12 Vote, Says It Must Be the Start of Criminal Justice Reform Efforts, Not the End \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t With this first step toward repairing our broken criminal justice system, let us pledge to work together to make further improvements in the new Congress.\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t WASHINGTON  U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a cosponsor of the First Step Act, offered the following remarks during Senate floor debate and passage of the criminal justice reform legislation on Tuesday night:\r\nI'm very pleased that the Senate passed the First Step Act tonight, with strong support from both parties. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle understand that our criminal justice system is badly broken and in need of repair, and just as the name suggests, passage of tonight's bill is a critical first step toward making those fixes. This legislation makes key sentencing and prison reform improvements  necessary changes for a more reasonable, equitable justice system. I thank Senators Grassley and Durbin for their leadership on getting this done, and I urge my colleagues in the House to pass this bill and President Trump to sign it into law without delay.\r\nI am especially pleased that the revised First Step Act passed tonight reauthorizes the Second Chance Act. This critical federal program helps individuals returning to the community from prison or jail and has a proven track record of reducing recidivism and saving money for the taxpayers.\r\nIn my own state of Maryland, we know the importance of criminal justice reform after the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore Police Department custody in 2015. Baltimore is a good example of the necessary federal and state partnership we need in order to reform the criminal justice system.\r\nIn 2016, Maryland also passed the Justice Reinvestment Act, which seeks to reduce Maryland's prison population and use the savings to provide for more effective treatment to offenders  before, during, and after incarceration. This is intended to reduce the likelihood of reoffending, as well as to benefit victims and families and reduce costs to taxpayers.\r\nAs a next step, in the new Congress, I look forward to consideration of my End Racial and Religious Profiling Act, S. 411. Racial and discriminatory profiling is wrong, counterproductive, and a wasteful use of resources. This amendment would prohibit racial, religious, and other discriminatory profiling by any federal, state, or local law enforcement, setting a national standard. It would create a cause of action for such profiling, condition the receipt of federal law enforcement grants on the elimination of profiling, and create grants for best practices and training of law enforcement officers.\r\nCongress should also take up and pass my Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act, S. 3195, to address the issue of police accountability and build trust between police departments and the communities they serve. This legislation provides incentives for local police organizations to voluntarily adopt performance-based standards to ensure that incidents of misconduct will be reduced through appropriate management, training and oversight protocols. Finally, this legislation authorizes funds for the implementation of consent decrees and judgements entered into between the Department of Justice and local police departments, such as the Baltimore Police Department.\r\nI had filed two amendments to this legislation that I will work with my colleagues to be considered in the new Congress. The first is the text of S. 1588, the Democracy Restoration Act (DRA). This legislation would strengthen American communities by restoring voting rights to individuals after they have returned to their communities after being released from incarceration. Studies indicate that former prisoners who have voting rights restored are less likely to reoffend, and that disenfranchisement hinders their rehabilitation and reintegration into their community.\r\nI was pleased that last month the citizens of Florida, by a nearly two-thirds margin of 65 to 35 percent, voted to amend their state constitution to automatically restore the right to vote for most individuals with prior felony convictions. Under the previous law, people with prior felonies never regained their right to vote in Florida unless a state board used its discretion to individually restore your voting rights.\r\nThe United States is one of the few Western democracies that allows the permanent denial of voting rights for individuals with felony convictions. It's simply wrong that state disenfranchisement laws deny citizens participation in our democracy. Casting a vote is one of the most fundamental rights in a democracy and gives you a say in the future of your community. Congress has a responsibility to ensure that right is protected and should be leading an effort to remove barriers and make it easier for more people to register to vote, cast their vote, and make sure their votes are counted.\r\nIn the United States, an estimated 6.1 million adult citizens are currently disenfranchised as a result of a criminal conviction. While 16 states and the District of Columbia already restore voting rights upon release from prison, 34 states continue to restrict the voting rights of people who are no longer incarcerated. In 10 States, a conviction can result in lifetime disenfranchisement. Several States deny the right to vote to individuals convicted of certain misdemeanors. Since March 2016, Maryland automatically restores voting rights after individuals are released from prison. The law went into effect after the legislature successfully overrode a veto from Governor Larry Hogan (R-Md.). The new law immediately restored voting rights to approximately 40,000 Marylanders.\r\nSecond is the Private Prison Information Act, or PPIA. This amendment would apply the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to private prison. This would ensure that non-federal prisons are held to the same standard of information sharing and record keeping as federal detention facilities, and would increase transparency and accountability. Private prisons account for 20 percent of our federal prison and detention population but hide behind loopholes in the law when it comes to how they perform their job on behalf of the American people. Security breaches, overcrowding and misuse of funds were among the many reasons the Justice Department under President Obama and Attorney General Lynch rightly began to phase out the use of private prison contracts. These companies receive federal funds and provide the same service as governmental agencies. They perform the inherently governmental function' of incarcerating individuals convicted of a crime by the federal government. They must be held accountable to the same standards.\r\nI would note that the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union sent a joint letter of support for the First Step Act. These groups also said: The First Step Act is not the end. We must address these concerns and create a system that is just and equitable, significantly reduces the number of people unnecessarily entering the system, eliminates racial disparities, and creates opportunities for second chances.\r\nWith this first step toward repairing our broken criminal justice system, let us pledge to work together to make further improvements in the new Congress.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-statement-on-passage-of-first-step-act", "Van Hollen Statement on Passage of First Step Act", "2018-12-18", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 18, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen Statement on Passage of First Step Act \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tToday, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen released the following statement regarding the passage of the First Step Act:\r\nMr. President, I am proud that the Senate has passed the First Step Act. As a cosponsor of this bill, I am heartened that Republicans and Democrats came together to address an issue that affects millions of Americans and their families.\r\nAlthough one of my colleagues across the aisle has said that we have an under-incarceration problem, that is simply not the case. The United States represents only 4.4% of the world's population but we hold approximately 22% of the world's prisoners. Over the past decade, Americans and Congress have taken a long hard look at who we incarcerate and why. This review has made us realize that too many elements of our criminal justice system are based on prejudice and have inflicted unnecessary harm in communities across the country. We should strive to ensure that liberty and justice for all is not just a phrase we say, but a promise we keep to all Americans.\r\nThe First Step Act allows prisoner rehabilitation so that they can return home ready to contribute to their communities. Education and job training opportunities provide individuals with a real second chance.\r\nThe bill incorporates important provisions that allows for the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act, which removed the sentencing disparity between the crack-power and cocaine. We were able to include provisions that prohibit the use of solitary confinement of juvenile offenders, prohibit the shackling of pregnant and postpartum women, and ensure that prisoners are placed in prisons closer to home. The bill also offers low and minimal risk offenders the possibility of supervised release, home confinement or release to halfway homes.\r\nThe three amendments offered to the bill by Senators Cotton and Kennedy do not protect victims, are redundant, and are so broad as to subvert the bill's purpose. The first amendment requires mandatory notification to crime victims of an offender's impending release. However, current law and agency policies already allows victims to choose if they want to receive these updates. Mandated reporting harms victims who do not want to receive this information. That is why this amendment is opposed by organizations such as the Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice and the Fairness, Dignity & Respect for Crime Victims & Survivors Project.\r\nThe second amendment will require wardens to notify victims of early release and review victim statements prior to determining if an offender is eligible for pre-release custody or supervised release. Again, this amendment diminishes the rights our current laws give victims by allowing them determine if they want to receive this information. Victims already have the right to submit statements of opposition or support prior to parole or early release. Additionally, prison wardens should not be burdened with calculating risk assessment. The bill establishes an Independent Review Committee that will recommend and assess the best evidence-based tools to ensure that risk assessments are bias-free and objective.\r\nLastly, the expanded crime of violence definitions offered are vague, redundant and would exclude the very population the bill is designed to help. On its face, the final amendment seems to be common sense but the language is so vague that one analysis claims that only low-level drug offenders and white-collar criminals would be eligible for earned credit. The amendment has a catchall to prevent anyone who has been convicted of any offense that involved substantial risk of physical force against a person or their property from receiving pre-release. The U.S. Sentencing Commission estimates that this amendment would exclude 30,000 prisoners from participating in the program. I believe that the goal of criminal justice reform is rehabilitation & reducing recidivism and restricting incentives would defeat that purpose. The bill has been carefully crafted to only include low risk offenders.\r\nThe First Step Act is by no means perfect. For example, the bill does not include provisions to address the flaws in the money bail system, or the discrimination in housing or employment that many offenders face upon release. Nor does it prohibit the use of private prisons, or address discriminatory loopholes in our tax code that make it harder for released offenders to finance their education.\r\nBut the bill's name is clearthis is the first step and not the last, in our commitment to reform our criminal justice system.\r\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-statement-on-senate-passage-of-first-step-act", "Van Hollen Statement on Senate Passage of First Step Act", "2018-12-18", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 18, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen Statement on Senate Passage of First Step Act \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tTonight, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) released the following statement on the Senate passage of the First Step Act, bipartisan legislation to address criminal justice reform. The Senator cosponsored this legislation.\r\nTonight the Senate took an importantfirststep to reform our broken criminal justice system. The First Step Act is backed by a diverse group of supporters  from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Fraternal Order of Police. It includes crucial reforms to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent crimes, end juvenile solitary confinement, and provide more people with a second chance. While we've got much more to do, I was proud to support this bipartisan bill, and I will continue working to implement more reforms in the days ahead.\r\n\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/in-the-news/morning-defense-shutdown-showdown-ahead", "Morning Defense: Shutdown showdown ahead", "2018-12-17", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "TOP NEWS:A partial government shutdown looms at midnight Friday, but not for DoD and the VA\nON POLITICO:HASC's Brown questions unprecedented' wall funding scheme\nSHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN AHEAD:The Departments of Defense and VA and much of the rest of the federal government are fully funded through the end of this fiscal year on Sept. 30. But funding for nearly a third of the government, including the Department of Homeland Security, runs out a midnight Friday, unless Congress and the president act. So far, there's no plan.\nOn Sunday, White House senior adviser Stephen Millersaid the Trump administration would do whatever is necessary to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, even if it means shutting down the government,reportsour colleague Connor O'Brien.\nEXCLUSIVE DOC\nHASC'S BROWN QUESTIONS UNPRECEDENTED' WALL FUNDING SCHEME:Rep.Anthony Brown, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, is asking the Defense Department to describe the proprieties and impact of using emergency funds or authorities to build a wall on U.S.-Mexico border.\nUsing emergency executive authority, typically reserved for wartime, would be unprecedented, the Maryland Democrat writes ina letterto Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, provided to Morning D.\nAdditionally, Brown asks how using military construction funds to help build the wall would impact the military's nearly $10 billion project backlog.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/in-the-news/who-would-feel-pain-if-there-government-shutdown", "Who would feel the pain if there is a government shutdown?", "2018-12-17", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON  With the White House and Congress digging in on differences over funding for a border wall, there's growing anxiety among D.C.-area lawmakers and federal workers that a partial government shutdown could begin this weekend.\nPart of the federal government will shut down Friday at midnight unless an agreement on a new spending plan is reached. Democratic staff for the Senate Appropriations Committee have estimated the shutdown would affect more than 800,000 federal workers, including at least 420,000 who would be working without pay.\nLook, it's demoralizing. It really is, said Rep. Anthony Brown, a Democrat who represents more than 50,000 federal workers in Maryland's 4th District, which includes parts of Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties.\nThe shutdown would go into effect just days before Christmas. Brown said he understands the nervousness of those who rely on a federal paycheck.\nGiven the timing of this, it creates a considerable amount of anxiety for families, particularly those who work for the federal government, Brown said in an interview with WTOP.\nMore than 280,000 federal workers are employed in D.C. and the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. Brown and others point out that the workers also have a broader impact on the region's economy.\n\nShutdown would impact major federal agencies\n\nAbout 75 percent of the federal government has been funded by Congress. But appropriations have not been completed for several agencies, including the following departments: Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, and Transportation.\nAlso incomplete is funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the most-sensitive issue related to the budget impasse: a border wall. President Trump wants $5 billion for a border wall, while Democrats say they will spend no more than $1.6 billion for border security.\nThe president indicated little desire to compromise on border wall funding in a tweet on Monday.\nDemocrats have suggested a continuing resolution for DHS, essentially delaying a showdown over border wall funding until next year. But the White House and some Republicans are wary of that approach, because Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives in January. The approach of a possible shutdown has again raised questions about what services will be affected.\n\nWill a shutdown affect airports and holiday travel?\n\nTransportation Security Administration workers are considered essential and would continue to work at the nation's airports during a shutdown. There are more than 50,000 TSA employees nationwide. More than 50,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and customs workers would also continue to work.\n\nWhat would happen to national parks?\n\nMore than 80 percent of the National Park Service would be furloughed. While most parks are expected to remain open, they wouldn't be operating as they normally would. Visitors centers at parks would likely be closed, and there wouldn't be staff members to provide their usual assistance.\n\nWould a shutdown affect the U.S. Postal Service and deliveries?\n\nNo. The Postal Service is considered an independent agency and is not part of this budget standoff.\n\nWhat's next?\n\nWhile Democrats and Republicans in Congress have both indicated they have little appetite for a government shutdown, there were no major signs on Monday of any progress. Members of the House don't return into session until Wednesday evening, so it's not likely any major developments will take place until later in the week.\nLocal lawmakers are sharply critical of the situation and say federal workers shouldn't be left in limbo, as they have so many times in the past. Rep. Steny Hoyer  the House minority whip who also represents Maryland's 5th District  said before the House recessed last week that a government shutdown would be stupid.\nHis Republican counterpart, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who represents California's 23rd District, agreed on the House floor that a shutdown should be avoided. But he also chided Democrats, saying they caused the most recent shutdown earlier this year.\nFor his part, Brown said his constituents in Maryland should not be puppets in a political drama.\nThese are people, men and women, who choose to work for the federal government because they believe in the work, he said.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-brown-degrading-readiness-and-diverting-support-warfighter-wall", "Congressman Brown: Degrading Readiness And Diverting Support For The Warfighter To The Wall Would Be Dangerous and Unprecedented", "2018-12-17", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  Today, Congressman Anthony G. Brown (MD-04) sent a letter to Department of Defense Secretary James N. Mattis outlining his concerns about the President's assertion that the military could build his border wall.\n\nIn the letter, the Congressman argues that, while the President has significant discretion in determining a state of national emergency  diverting funding from our military to a project of limited value to our national security is dangerous during a time when we face competition from major adversaries.\n\nOver the last two years, Democrats and Republicans have achieved bipartisan consensus to significantly increase funding for the Department of Defense and provide greater budget certainty. The Congressman believes any effort to use already-appropriated Defense funding would face serious obstacles in Congress, and would undermine much of the bipartisan progress that has been made to increase readiness, support the warfighter, and improve leathility.\n\nCongressman Brown also concludes that the use of emergency executive authority  typically reserved for times of war  in order to access unlimited funding for the wall would be unprecedented. The text of the letter can be found below.\n\n+++\n\nDear Secretary Mattis:\n I write to you with my concerns regarding assertions from the Department of Defense that the Pentagon could fund construction of the President's border wall in support of counter drug operations or a national emergency. While the President has significant discretion in determining a state of national emergency  diverting funding from our military to a project of limited value to our national security is dangerous during a time when we face competition from major adversaries.\n Over the last two years, Democrats and Republicans have achieved bipartisan consensus to significantly increase funding for the Department of Defense and provide greater budget certainty. We have supported the warfighter in a bipartisan manner at every opportunity we have had, and have made critical investments in improving our capabilities. This was a result of the Department's request to prepare our nation against increased threats from China, Russia, and non-state actors. Any attempts to fund the wall with already-appropriated funding would face serious obstacles in Congress, and would undermine much of the bipartisan progress we have made to increase readiness, support the warfighter, and improve leathility.\nThe Department of Defense's counternarcotics funding is intended for operating programs, not major infrastructure projects, and permissible construction in support of this mission is limited in scope. Use of emergency MILCON funds would not only do little to improve border barriers, but would be gravely irresponsible given the nearly $10 billion backlog of necessary military construction projects that require our attention across the country. The use of emergency executive authority  typically reserved for times of war  in order to access unlimited funding for the wall would be unprecedented.\nI write to respectfully request the following information regarding current proposals for the Department of Defense to manage the construction of the President's border wall.\n The authorities the Department of Defense will rely on to fund the President's border wall.\n\tThe sources of funds that would be used to construct the President's border wall.\n\tThe current MILCON backlog, including the name of each project, and the location and estimated cost.\n\tThe impact the diversion of funds will have on the current MILCON backlog.\n\tThe impact the diversion of funds will have on readiness and the current Defense budget.\n\tThe amount of funding, if any, from the Department of Defense budget that has been spent on the President's border wall, to date.\n Thank you for your attention and prompt reply regarding my concerns. I look forward to hearing from you, and continuing to work with you to strengthen our national defense, support our warfighters, and ensure we are realizing the most value from each dollar appropriated to the Department of Defense.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=258", "Congressman Brown: Degrading Readiness And Diverting Support For The Warfighter To The Wall Would Be Dangerous and Unprecedented", "2018-12-17", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", null, 0, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://cummings.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/new-york-times-magazine-these-democrats-will-soon-have-power-investigate", "New York Times Magazine: These Democrats Will Soon Have the Power to Investigate the White House. How Far Will They Go?", "2018-12-17", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Elijah Cummings", "C000984", "cummings.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "At noon on Jan. 3, the 435 members of the House of Representatives of the 116th Congress will convene for the first time in the Capitol. The chaplain will offer a prayer, the clerk will lead the chamber in the Pledge of Allegiance and a roll-call vote will be held to elect Nancy Pelosi speaker of the House. Then the new speaker will grasp the gavel and swear in the representatives-elect  their right hands raised, some of them clutching Bibles or Torahs or Qurans in their left. There will be speeches and family photos and, among the Democrats, who will now be in the majority, much celebration. But before any of that happens, Representative Elijah Cummings will have sent out letters.\nOne letter will have been jointly addressed to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, demanding the age, gender, country of origin and current location of every child who was separated from his or her parents under the Trump administration's immigration policy. Another will have gone to Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, asking for the identities of any senior White House officials who have used  as Hillary Clinton once did  nongovernment email accounts to conduct official business.\nThe White House chief of staff will have received a letter, also addressed to the heads of multiple federal agencies, requesting information and documents about the use of government-owned aircraft for personal travel and private aircraft for official travel. Outside the government, the Trump Organization will have received one asking for a complete accounting of all the payments it has received from foreign governments or foreign-government-owned entities since Donald Trump's election. Each letter will have been written on stationery bearing the seal of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and signed with Cummings's looping signature over the word: Chairman-designate.\nElected to the House in 1996, Cummings, 67, represents a majority-African-American district anchored in Baltimore. He is a son of two former sharecroppers turned Pentecostal ministers; his bald head and booming baritone project a ministerial  and authoritative  presence. Until now, Cummings's greatest national renown came in 2015: During the riots that followed Freddie Gray's death from injuries he sustained in a Baltimore police van, Fox News broadcast live coverage of the congressman walking through the city's streets, bullhorn in hand, urging calm and shouting at protesters to go home.\nI'm not trying to do anything extraordinary, Cummings told me of the letters. I'm trying to do what the Constitution says I'm supposed to do. It was election night, and he was at a small party in Baltimore, where he had just been informed by a colleague, Representative John Sarbanes of Maryland, that the networks were declaring that Democrats would have a majority in the House of Representatives for the first time since 2011. Mr. Chairman! Sarbanes said in breaking the news.\nThe midterm results effectively brought an end to Trump's legislative agenda, or at least the parts of it that Democrats find objectionable. But the victory gives Democrats little legislative power of their own. If by some miracle any Democrat-authored House bill makes it through the Republican-controlled Senate, Trump's veto pen awaits.\nWhat the House Democrats will have, however, is oversight authority: the ability to hold hearings and request documents and, if necessary, issue subpoenas to uncover and expose all the incompetence and misconduct and outright corruption that they suspect permeates the executive branch under the current occupant of the White House. Make no mistake, Democrats will honor our constitutional responsibility to exercise oversight of the Trump administration and get the American people the answers they deserve, Pelosi said in a statement. Voters delivered a check and balance on the president that will hold him and his administration accountable for the abuses of power and culture of corruption that have consumed Washington. Trump is already besieged by the investigation led by Robert Mueller, the special counsel, into Russian interference in the 2016 elections and by multiple probes by the United States attorney's office for the Southern District of New York into his family business. In January, he will face a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives that suddenly has the power to open a third investigative front against him  power that will reside, in large part, in Cummings's office.\nThat power is both broad and subtle. The Oversight and Government Reform Committee's mandate is investigation, across the whole range of federal government operations  and even into the private sector. (The three-year congressional investigation into the use of steroids in Major League Baseball in the 2000s was a House Oversight production.) Other committees have the power to investigate, too, but none have so expansive a remit. Oversight, says former Representative Henry Waxman of California, the Democratic chairman of the committee from 2007 to 2009, has jurisdiction over the world.\nThis has given Cummings's predecessors a unique ability to shape the public perception of recent presidencies  particularly when, as will be the case in January, it is a president of the other party. Many of the familiar details of the George W. Bush administration's outing of the covert C.I.A. agent Valerie Plame, emergency-response failures during Hurricane Katrina and disastrous reconstruction of Iraq were ferreted out by Waxman, who led the Oversight and Government Reform Committee for the last two years of Bush's second term. The congressional investigations of the Obama administration  into claims that the Internal Revenue Service targeted Tea Party groups and that the Justice Department allowed guns to be illegally trafficked across the Mexican border  that dominated Fox News chyrons after Republicans took back the House in 2011 were started by Waxman's Republican successor, Darrell Issa.\nAs a rule, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee is a sleepy place when the same party controls Congress and the White House. But even by these standards, the committee's performance during the first two years of the Trump administration has been unusual. Under the chairmanship of Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah and then, after Chaffetz resigned in June 2017 and took a job at Fox News, Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, the committee essentially turned a blind eye toward the executive branch. On matters big (like the firing of the F.B.I. director, James Comey, or the administration's botched response to Hurricane Maria) and comparatively small (like Trump's decision to revoke the security clearance of the former C.I.A. director John Brennan), the Oversight Committee did not seem interested in doing much real oversight.\nIf the president's party on Capitol Hill becomes subservient to the executive branch and just becomes an appendage of that, then Congress basically loses its meaning, Tom Davis, the Virginia Republican who was chairman of the committee during part of Bush's presidency, from 2003 to 2007, told me. We turn into a parliamentary operation. Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, puts it even more bluntly. Looking back over the first two years of the administration, he says, I can't point to a single example, House or Senate, where any committee or subcommittee actually fulfilled its role of doing oversight.\nOver the past two years, as the committee's ranking member, Cummings issued 64 subpoena requests; they were requests because the minority party can't issue subpoenas without the majority's approval. Chaffetz and Gowdy rejected them all. And even when Chaffetz or Gowdy did ask the Trump administration for information, they didn't push very hard. I was able to get them to jointly request documents that we needed to do our job, Cummings told me, but when the administration basically said, Screw you'  and the administration basically said that to every request  they refused to back it up with a subpoena. Indeed, the first requests Cummings will send out as the incoming Oversight chairman  the letters about family separation, nongovernment emails and government-owned aircraft for personal travel  will be those that Chaffetz and Gowdy jointly sent with him over the past two years and that the administration largely ignored.\nAt the time, Cummings counseled his Republican colleagues to put aside the politics of the moment and to think long-term. I get in these guys' ears, and I talk to them heart to heart, Cummings says. I told them, Trump is 72. I'm 67. You all are still young guys. Why are you trying to carry this guy's water? After he's dead, you're going to be living with this [expletive].' \nCongress's oversight responsibilitiesoriginated from an incident on Nov. 4, 1791, when a 1,400-soldier military expedition led by Arthur St. Clair, then governor of the Northwest Territory and a former general officer in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, was routed in what is now Ohio by a confederacy of warriors from three Native American tribes. Nearly 700 soldiers were killed and 300 wounded. The House of Representatives established a select committee to investigate the defeat and authorized it to call for such persons, papers and records as may be necessary to assist their inquiries. President George Washington was initially concerned that Congress had overstepped its bounds. But after Washington's cabinet  including Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton  unanimously counseled him otherwise, he agreed to cooperate with the investigation, turning over the documents that had been requested.\nIn the 226 years since the committee investigated  and ultimately absolved  St. Clair, Congress has performed its oversight and investigative functions with varying degrees of enthusiasm, competence and responsibility. For every Senate investigation into the Teapot Dome scandal  which brought down Albert Fall, Warren Harding's secretary of the interior, in 1923 for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from oil barons  there's Senator Joseph McCarthy's use of his chairmanship of the Committee on Government Operations in the 1950s to search for Communists in the government.\nIn the decades after Watergate, both the Senate and the House conducted rigorous, and bipartisan, investigations into topics including intelligence-agency abuses and military-procurement fraud, producing meaningful reforms in the process. That heyday came to an end, however, when Republicans took back the House in 1995, giving them control of it for the first time in 40 years. Once Newt Gingrich was installed as House speaker, he merged several House committees with responsibilities to monitor government agencies into a single panel, naming it the Government Reform and Oversight Committee.\nThe new committee had the broadest oversight jurisdiction of any in Congress  a power Gingrich quickly weaponized against the Clinton administration. He filled over half the G.O.P.'s committee seats with freshmen who arrived on the wave of his Republican revolution, and in 1997 made Representative Dan Burton of Indiana its chairman. An ardent Clinton foe, Burton had already proposed investigating the suicide of the deputy White House counsel Vince Foster  Burton infamously conducted amateur forensics tests, reportedly by shooting melons in his backyard  and how much money the White House was spending on postage to respond to letters that children had written to the Clintons' pet cat, Socks.\nIn his six years as chairman, Burton issued more than 1,000 unilateral subpoenas and demanded everything down to the White House holiday-card list. But his Javert act ultimately became too much even for Republicans. For all his exertions, Burton proved unable to find concrete evidence of serious wrongdoing on the part of the Clinton administration. He repeatedly undermined himself, as in 1998 when one of his top aides  Trump's future deputy campaign manager David Bossie  released transcripts of the jailhouse phone conversations of Hillary Clinton's old law partner and former Associate Attorney General Webb Hubbell, who was convicted of fraud for overbilling clients, that seemed to implicate Clinton in the overbilling. Democrats later showed that the transcripts had been misleadingly edited, and Bossie was pressured to resign. We'd just put our foot out, recalls Henry Waxman, who was the top Democrat on the committee during Burton's chairmanship, and he'd trip over it. Gingrich eventually stopped giving sensitive investigative assignments to Burton's Oversight Committee.\nIn 2003, Tom Davis took over as the Oversight Committee chairman and established what became the standard mode of low-key defense when the chairman's own party is in the White House. I had to show the party flag, Davis says of fighting off some Democratic demands for investigations of the Bush administration. But when it came to big issues  like the Bush administration's slow and poorly executed response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's contacts with President Bush and other White House officials  Davis, much to the consternation of some of his fellow Republicans, led rigorous investigations. He had a concern about oversight, Waxman says, and he thought the questions we wanted to pursue were legitimate and worthwhile.\nAfter Democrats took back the House in the 2006 midterms, Waxman became Oversight Committee chairman. He was an aggressive but careful investigator; unlike Burton, he didn't initiate an inquiry at the first whiff of scandal, nor did he succumb to some of his Democratic constituents' blood lust. I'd go to some of the Democratic clubs back home, and people would say, Why haven't you imprisoned George W. Bush?'  Waxman recalls. I had to tell them we don't have the power to imprison people. There was a widespread belief that there's a prison right there in the Capitol.\nBut Waxman's investigations into the failures of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, profiteering by the military contractor Blackwater and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's dangerous policy of housing families displaced by Hurricane Katrina in trailers with unhealthful levels of formaldehyde, among others, harked back to the heyday of post-Watergate oversight. His hearings calling executives from A.I.G. and Lehman Brothers to testify about their role in the 2008 financial crisis helped lay the groundwork for Congress's most substantial attempt in decades to rein in the financial sector, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.\nOne of Waxman's most trusted lieutenants on the Oversight Committee was Cummings, who proved so adept at political theater that Waxman and his staff often relied on him to ask the most crucial questions of hostile witnesses testifying before the committee. Even today, Oversight veterans speak in awed tones about a 2007 hearing when Cummings questioned the State Department's inspector general, Howard Krongard, about claims that he impeded a federal investigation into Blackwater. During testimony, Cummings informed Krongard that committee staff had discovered that Krongard's brother was at a Blackwater advisory board meeting in Williamsburg, Va.: This meeting is taking place right now, Cummings said, as we speak. Krongard resigned from the State Department a few weeks later. It was like a Perry Mason moment, Waxman says.\nDuring their years in the minority, Cummings and his roughly 35-person committee staff, led by its director, David Rapallo, became skilled at conducting investigations without much political or legal leverage. In 2017, a Democratic investigator for the Oversight Committee, scrutinizing Michael Flynn, Trump's first national-security adviser, reviewed Flynn's 2016 security clearance renewal application and noticed that Flynn took a trip to Saudi Arabia in 2015  during which he claimed to stay at a hotel that did not exist and to attend a conference that did not occur. Robert Mueller went on to investigate Flynn's suspected efforts to broker a $100 billion energy deal between Saudi Arabia and Russia's nuclear-power agency.\nCombing through the unpublished supporting evidence of an inspector general's report, Democratic committee staff found emails that appeared to show that Trump, in spite of his own denials, had ordered the reversal of plans to move the F.B.I. headquarters to a suburban location and off Pennsylvania Avenue, where it currently sits across from the Trump Hotel  a reversal that would benefit his hotel by preventing commercial developers from building a competing property across the street. The Cummings people did a lot of great investigative work without formal tools, says Phil Barnett, who was the staff director of the Oversight Committee under Waxman. Now they will have formal tools.\nIn September,Pelosi invited Cummings to her Capitol office, along with two other Democratic congressmen who, if the party won the House in November, would become chairmen of committees with powerful investigative mandates: New York's Jerrold Nadler, of the Judiciary Committee, and California's Adam Schiff, of the Intelligence Committee. There they were joined by several Democratic representatives who worked previously as prosecutors: Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts, Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland and Eric Swalwell of California. Pelosi told the group that they shouldn't take the outcome of the midterms for granted. At the same time, she said, the Democrats needed to begin thinking about how they would conduct oversight of the Trump administration  and the strategizing needed to start now.\nLike Cummings, Nadler and Schiff chafed at their committees' Republican chairmen's lack of interest and outright interference during the Trump presidency. Mueller's investigators have spent months building an increasingly sweeping case about Russian meddling in the 2016 elections, implicating and indicting several of Trump's closest associates to date. But under the chairmanship of the Republican Devin Nunes of California, the House Intelligence Committee  which has a clear constitutional authority to conduct some of the same investigatory work as Mueller  produced a report that breezily concluded that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government and that, contrary to the official consensus of the American intelligence community, the Russian government was not even seeking to help elect Trump. Committee Democrats said they were shut out of the drafting process and publicly condemned the report.\nNunes also initiated parallel investigations of the F.B.I. and the Justice Department for what he claimed was criminal activity and fraudulent behavior in an effort to hurt Trump's campaign  investigations that Schiff contends actively sought to thwart exactly the kind of oversight the committee was supposed to be doing. I think that the mission for the chairman has been protecting the White House, protecting the president and furthering a political narrative which is completely at odds with the facts, Schiff told me.\nWhen Immigration and Customs Enforcement, following a new and unprecedented Trump administration policy, separated more than 2,300 immigrant children from their families at the Southern border this spring, the Republican-led Judiciary Committee did not hold a single oversight hearing for Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, whose agency falls under the committee's oversight jurisdiction. Other committees, too, had their own lists of Trump-administration oversight oversights: the Natural Resources Committee's lack of interest in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's suspected ethical and managerial misdeeds, which have been the subject of at least 17 federal investigations, for instance; or the Veterans Affairs Committee's refusal to look into whether three Trump friends, all Mar-a-Lago members, improperly influenced a $10 billion contract to modernize veterans' health care records. The oversight job, after two years of Donald Trump, says Representative Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who serves on both the Oversight and Judiciary Committees, is like coming upon a 73-car pileup on the highway.\nWith so many targets, and so many hungry Democrats, there's the potential for oversight fratricide next year, says a senior Democratic official on the Intelligence Committee, noting the overlapping jurisdictions of the various committees. There's also the potential for distraction. The question is, do you want to be the Breaking News Committee that just investigates the issue of the day? asks Swalwell, who sits on the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. Or do you want to look at broader, longstanding core issues? At that September meeting and at multiple gatherings of members and their staffs over the subsequent weeks and months, an initial strategy  and a division of labor  began to take shape.\nSchiff, the incoming Intelligence Committee chairman, will play a major role. One of his top priorities will be protecting  and assisting  Mueller's investigation, and one of his first acts in the new Congress will be trying to get to the bottom of one of the more tantalizing mysteries of the whole Russia affair: Whom did Donald Trump Jr. speak to on his phone in between calls setting up the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians peddling dirt on Hillary Clinton? Trump Jr. claims he can't remember, and the call appears as a blocked number on his phone records. Nunes refused to ask Trump Jr.'s cellular provider for the blocked number. That phone call may lead to a place the Republicans didn't want to go, Schiff says, and so they were unwilling to get the answer. Schiff wants the answer and will press the provider for it.\nNunes's investigation may not have produced much, but under his leadership, the committee did conduct hundreds of hours of interviews: with Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Roger Stone and other key figures in the Russia matter. On Nunes's orders, almost all the transcripts have remained in the sole possession of the committee, which has, among other things, kept them out of the hands of Mueller's investigators. Schiff plans to publicly release the remaining transcripts when the new Congress convenes in January.\nIn November, Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate project Trump pursued. Cohen was caught by Mueller's investigators only because he publicly released his opening statement to the Intelligence Committee. Referring to the unreleased transcripts, Swalwell told me: I just wonder how many more crimes are just sitting in the basement of the House Intelligence Committee that Mueller doesn't know about because he hasn't seen that they lied to us.\nSchiff is also interested in examining Trump's business dealings  including whether Russians laundered money through the Trump Organization  from a counterintelligence perspective. What would be most compromising to our nation and our national security is if a hostile foreign power has leverage over the president of the United States, Schiff told me. Or as the senior Democratic Intelligence Committee official says: Whenever Putin is alone in a room with Trump with just the two of them and their translators, like they were in Helsinki, is Putin reminding him that he has an Excel spreadsheet of how many rubles are parked in Trump Tower?\nOne afternoon in late November,Nadler, the incoming Judiciary Committee chairman, was in his congressional office. The walls were bare, save some exposed nails. All the pictures and framed bills that once hung on them were piled in a plastic-lined dumpster in the reception area  Jerry's bucket of achievements, Daniel Schwarz, Nadler's communications director, joked. Nadler was in the process of moving to a space closer to the Judiciary Committee's offices.\nThe congressman from the Upper West Side became the top Democrat on the committee in December 2017 after John Conyers, the long-serving Michigan representative, resigned from Congress over sexual-harassment claims. Nadler has been a Trump bte noire since the 1980s, when, as an assemblyman, he fought to prevent Trump from building a proposed 150-story building in his district, where Trump hoped to live in an apartment on the top floor. After his election to Congress in 1992, Nadler made sure Trump didn't receive federal mortgage guarantees for the project. I didn't want him to be the tallest man in the world there, Nadler told me. Trump described Nadler in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve, as one of the most egregious hacks in contemporary politics.\nThe Judiciary Committee is endowed with the authority to start impeachment proceedings against a president, as committee Republicans did against Bill Clinton in 1998, and as committee Democrats did against Nixon in 1973. Nadler is thus probably the committee chairman most likely to find himself caught between the expectations of the Democratic base and the political and institutional realities their representatives are now subject to.\nIf they're successful at doing their jobs, then they'll bring forth more information about Trump's wrongdoing, and the logical conclusion will be impeachment, says Kevin Mack, lead strategist for the liberal billionaire Tom Steyer's group Need to Impeach, which has gathered nearly 6.5 million signatures supporting Trump's impeachment. And if Democrats don't impeach Trump? What you're saying by not attempting to stand up for the rule of law is that the rule of law is not the most important thing to you, Steyer told me. Complaining about something is not doing something about it.\nWhen Nadler ran to succeed Conyers as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, his pitch included a leaflet he wrote and distributed to his fellow Democrats, which said that he was our strongest member to lead a potential impeachment. Since clinching the chairmanship, however, Nadler has become much more circumspect, at least publicly, about impeachment. It's too early, he told me in November. It's a very momentous step. It has real consequences. Even if Robert Mueller or congressional Democrats uncover what he concludes are impeachable offenses, Nadler told me, he would want to begin impeachment proceedings only if he believes that, by the end of the process, there would be an appreciable fraction of the Trump voters who support Trump's impeachment.\nYou don't want to tear the country apart, Nadler said. You don't want a situation where for the next 30 years half the country is saying, We won the election; you stole it from us.'  He added an interesting caveat, however: Now notice I didn't say an appreciable fraction of Republicansenators. It's the Trump voters. Because it might be  I'm not saying it is, but it might be  that the Republican Party becomes so one-sided, or such a cult group in effect, that no matter what the evidence is, no matter what the malfeasances are, they  Republican senators  would never agree to break from the president.\nStill, as he sat in his emptying office, Nadler did not sound like someone eager to lead a potential impeachment. The fact that you find impeachable offenses and the fact that you think you can prove impeachable offenses, he said, doesn't necessarily mean the offenses rise to the level of importance where you should impeach. When I spoke to Nadler a couple of weeks later, after federal prosecutors said that Trump directed Michael Cohen to make payments in violation of campaign-finance laws to squelch a sex scandal, he still sounded cautious. I don't think things have changed, really, Nadler said. We know a little more, but there's a lot more to know.\nIn the days after the election, Nadler began firing off preservation letters to the White House, the Justice Department and other agencies warning them that concealing, removing or destroying any documents related to Jeff Sessions's firing or Mueller's investigation may constitute a crime. In January, the committee's first order of business, Nadler said, will be to call Matthew Whitaker, the acting attorney general, to testify; Whitaker, who has a thin legal rsum, was tapped by Trump to replace Sessions and will hold the job until the official nominee for attorney general, William Barr, is confirmed by the Senate. From the moment Whitaker was appointed, Nadler told me, It was clear that Trump wanted him to be his hatchet man. When Whitaker comes before the committee, Nadler said, he will ask him: Have you told Mueller not to follow some line of inquiry? Have you told him not to indict somebody? What instructions have you given to him, if any? Have you communicated with the White House about these matters in any way or with the president's lawyers in any way? What have you told them? Those kinds of questions.\nNadler's to-do list goes far beyond Whitaker. There is the Justice Department's decision not to defend the Affordable Care Act in a lawsuit brought by Republican state attorneys general; the Trump administration's family-separation policy; whether the White House improperly interfered with the F.B.I.'s background check into Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.\nIn the last two years, the Republicans in Congress, their basic idea has been: Let the Trump administration do what it wants, let there be no oversight, Nadler said. In a normal presidency, this would have been problematic, but with Trump in the White House, Nadler argued, there are real challenges to the democratic norms that we haven't seen the likes of since the Civil War. The result, he said, is that we have a real crisis now.\nOn the last Thursday in November,the House Oversight Committee held what was most likely its final hearing of the year, and Cummings's final hearing as the ranking member. It was devoted to the 2017 hurricane season and the Trump administration's response to Hurricane Maria, and Cummings believed it was long overdue. He initially asked Gowdy to hold hearings on the matter back in September 2017, nine days after Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Gowdy refused and continued to turn down requests for a hearing for more than a year. Now Gowdy had finally scheduled the hearing in the lame-duck session on a day Democrats were holding their leadership elections. As a result, when the hearing began, only six of the committee's 41 members were present.\nOur Republican colleagues have promised to accommodate us, and I appreciate it, Cummings said when it was his turn to speak, but they would not move the hearing to a different day, and they would not even move up the start time by 30 minutes so we could ask Administrator Long our questions. He was referring to the head of FEMA, Brock Long, who was testifying that day. He lit into Gowdy. I greatly respect the chairman, as a person, as an attorney and as a friend, but this is not transparency, this is not accountability and this is certainly not oversight.\nIf Cummings is perceptive of the tactics being used against him to defend a president, it's because, not so long ago, he was the one doing the protecting. He became the top Democrat on the committee when Republicans took back the House in the 2010 midterms, and the new chairman, Darrell Issa, promised to hold hundreds of hearings into the Obama administration. Cummings was the first line of defense against the coming investigative onslaught. Mr. Cummings was very smart and deliberate and methodical, and was a perfect foil to Darrell, says Kurt Bardella, Issa's former spokesman and later a spokesman for Breitbart, who last year renounced the G.O.P. and became a Democrat. Cummings batted back Republicans' most incendiary charges against Obama by pointing to the lack of any real evidence, and repeatedly provoked Issa into own goals, like the time Issa received negative coverage for ordering Cummings's microphone cut off when Cummings tried to make a statement at the end of a hearing.\nCummings proved a similarly effective opponent to Gowdy on the special committee investigating the 2012 attack on the United States mission in Benghazi, Libya  which Gowdy led and on which Cummings was the top Democrat  and then to Chaffetz, who succeeded Issa as Oversight Committee chairman. Cummings's friends are quick to point out that Issa, Chaffetz and Gowdy will not be serving in the next Congress. They all quit after having to deal with Elijah! Waxman says.\nDarrell pursued headlines, Bardella told me. He wanted visibility and publicity. During the Trump presidency, he argues, Cummings can focus on substance, and the reality is, they have so much more to work with on substance than we did. Our approach was, therecouldbe corruption, therecouldbe waste, fraud and abuse. We already know those things exist with Trump. There's no fishing expedition required.\nAnd yet, those Obama-era investigations made an indelible mark on politics. Congressional Republicans may never have been able to prove that Obama's I.R.S. unfairly singled out Tea Party groups for scrutiny; or that Eric Holder tried to hide the facts about a failed Justice Department investigation into gunrunning along the Mexican border, called Fast and Furious, that resulted in the death of a Border Patrol agent; or that Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, tried to cover up a bungled response to the Benghazi attack  but you might not know this if you spend much time on conservative media or the Trump rally circuit.\nBurton's probing of the Clinton administration occurred in the old-media landscape of the 1990s, when the expectations of the press  and of the public  were that for a congressional investigation to be considered successful, it needed to produce the factual goods. But Issa and his successors, by virtue of right-wing-media megaphones like Fox News (which was in its infancy during the Clinton years) and Breitbart, were able to conduct investigations as a kind of post-truth theater, where proving charges was less important than making them, loudly and repeatedly. By the time of the 2016 presidential campaign, a Fairleigh Dickinson University survey found that 44 percent of Republicans and a full half of Trump supporters believed it was definitely true that as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton knew the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi was going to be attacked and did nothing to protect it.\nThe challenge of conducting oversight in this post-truth political environment is not lost on Cummings and other Democrats. I watch Fox News every now and then, Cummings told me, and the reason why I watch Fox News is, I'm trying to see how they can twist things around and make them sound so like the Democrats have some conspiracy against the president  and they do a good job of it. Democrats worry about what will happen if they turn up concrete evidence of presidential wrongdoing in their investigations and a sizable portion of the electorate simply refuses to believe it.\nIt's also very likely that Trump, having already broken so many other norms, will have few qualms about breaking the norm of cooperating, or even feigning cooperation, with congressional investigations. If the president treats the Congress the way he has Bob Mueller, we can expect the administration to respond to many of our requests with stonewalling and invective, Schiff says. It's very possible the administration will decide they're not going to compromise on anything, and litigate everything. David Bossie, the Dan Burton aide who stepped down for misleadingly editing and releasing the Hubbell transcripts, remains an informal adviser to Trump; he has gone so far as to suggest in a recent interview with Jacqueline Alemany of The Washington Post that the White House should encourage people subpoenaed by House Democrats to plead the fifth or even flee the country. Congressional Republicans have also sent a message by picking Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, perhaps Trump's most staunch and outspoken defender on Capitol Hill, to serve as the top Republican on the Oversight Committee. When the caucus picked Jordan, Tom Davis says, they really picked confrontation.\nThe most disheartening prospect for Democrats is what that confrontation could ultimately reveal: just how little leverage  political and legal  a divided Congress has in a fight with a president like Trump. If Trump administration officials refuse to comply with subpoenas, Democrats could vote to hold them in contempt of Congress. But that's a largely toothless gesture. Even if the House does succumb to the Democratic base's desire and impeaches Trump, the G.O.P.-controlled Senate would almost certainly never convict. What's more, impeachment could backfire. You don't want to reward an offender like the president with martyrdom, Eric Swalwell, who's currently exploring his own presidential run in 2020, told me. That would be the worst outcome  that he gets more popular, that his base grows because of it.\nSurveying the task ahead of him, Cummings says, This will be one of the hardest things I've ever done. On a recent afternoon, he sat in his congressional office and contemplated the possibility that he'd fall short. In the past year and a half, Cummings was hospitalized for nearly five months because of a serious knee infection and complications from a heart-valve replacement. My saddest thought, he said, is that there will be damage done which will not be corrected during my lifetime and perhaps for a long time.\nDemocrats realize that they'll have to wage their battle in the court of public opinion  and Cummings believes that will require eventually winning over at least some of his Republican colleagues to his side. There is one incentive for them: love of country and democracy, he said. We have to try to help them get there. We have to try to help their constituents see what they're doing and what they're not doing and try to bring them back to some sense of normalcy.\nSeated at the top of the dais in the Oversight Committee hearing room at the sparsely attended hearings into Hurricane Maria last month, Cummings tried to get a head start on doing just that. He noted how FEMA hadn't been responsive to his entreaties for information over the last two years. He told Long, the FEMA head, that his attitude would have to change and that he expected answers to a new a batch of questions before the end of the year  after which Cummings would be the one holding the gavel.\nI guarantee you, Administrator Long, Cummings said, raising his hand and pointing a long, knobby finger, this hearing will not be your last before this committee.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/midday-newsmaker-rep-john-sarbanes-on-reforming-american-democracy", "Midday Newsmaker: Rep. John Sarbanes, on Reforming American Democracy", "2018-12-17", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "For nearly two years,Sarbaneshas chaired theHouse Democracy Reform Task Force,a group of legislators seeking to minimize the influence of special interests on elections. He is the principle author ofH.R. 1, a bill that addresses ethics and campaign finance reform as well as voting rights protections. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who will likely be the new Speaker of the House, said the bill will be the first order of business when the House reconvenes on January 3rd, 2019.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-pruitt-conflicts-industry-capture-of-trump-administration-renders-epas-proposed-methane-rule-invalid", "Senators: Pruitt Conflicts, Industry Capture of Trump Administration Renders EPAs Proposed Methane Rule Invalid", "2018-12-17", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 17, 2018\n\t\t\t Senators: Pruitt Conflicts, Industry Capture of Trump Administration Renders EPA's Proposed Methane Rule Invalid \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tFormer Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt lacked a sufficiently open mind to legally preside over changes to vital protections against the powerful greenhouse gas methane; his involvement in the proposal to tear down those protections violated federal ethics rules; and that proposal amounts to an egregious hand-over of an agency's rulemaking authority to an industry the same agency regulates.\r\nThat is what Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) write in an official comment submitted to the EPA today on a Trump proposal to water down methane pollution requirements for oil and gas companies. The proposed rule would result in substantially higher emissions of the potent heat-trapping gas from oil and gas facilities.\r\nThe senators also document efforts by officials at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), apparently at the behest of their political leadership, to weaken further the proposed standard. OIRA repeatedly overruled the advice of EPA technical experts. OIRA Administrator Neomi Rao has a long history of working at institutions funded by the Koch brothers, whose company would directly benefit from the proposed rule.\r\nThe senators write, The extreme and well-documented regulatory capture of the Trump EPA is evidence that it has effectively delegated its authority to the industries that have captured it, in particular, the fossil fuel industry. There is no substantive difference between an agency explicitly telling a company or industry to write a rule for it, and an agency telling a company or industry that it will write whatever rule the company or industry wants. Like Scott Pruitt's Devon Energy letter, the substance is all industry, whatever the letterhead, and the public interest is ignored.\r\nWhile Pruitt resigned in disgrace in July in the wake of ethical violations and scandals related to his conduct as EPA administrator, the senators' comment notes a lesser-noticed scandal  the major conflicts of interest flowing from his years cultivating relationships with the fossil fuel industry. Pruitt accepted an outsized portion of his political funding from the fossil fuel industry.\r\nSupplied with industry funding, Pruitt used his post as Oklahoma attorney general and later EPA administrator to aggressively pursue the industry's interests. Attorney General Pruitt sued the EPA 14 times, including a challenge to a 2016 methane rule the proposed rule seeks to weaken. In one instance, Pruitt took a letter criticizing EPA's work on methane emissions composed by one of his biggest donors, Devon Energy, and cut and pasted it onto official Oklahoma attorney general stationary with only a few word changes and submitted it to the EPA over his own signature.\r\nThe problems with the proposed rule extend far beyond Pruitt or even EPA. Numerous other EPA officials are also closely tied to the fossil fuel industry. Current Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation William Wehrum, among others, have represented companies and trade groups with business before the EPA, many of which stand to benefit from changes like the methane rule rollback.\r\nImproper contacts with industry, disregarding technical expertise, as well as the unexplained and unjustified regulatory U-turn, the proposed rule would represent are warning signs that demonstrate that the proposed rule is arbitrary and capricious and as such, is illegal.\r\nThe full text of the letter is availablehere\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/the-democratic-house-is-taking-on-ethics-reform-first-we-need-it", "The Democratic House Is Taking on Ethics Reform First. We Need It.", "2018-12-15", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "House Democrats won a majority in the next Congress not because they are unified behind Medicare-for-all  they are not  or because they favor an infrastructure plan  which President Trump does, too. They won in some previously GOP-friendly areas because they promised an alternative to Mr. Trump's undignified, cynical behavior.... They appear to have received voters' message. Thefirst major actionthe new Democratic majorityplans to takenext year is not the embrace of a left-wing ideological hobby horse, but an ambitious plan to tighten up the nation's democratic procedures, combat big money in politics and enhance political ethics rules. Senate Republicans may balk at the bill, set to be the first filed in the House next year. But they will have a hard time explaining why....A proposal that reflects these priorities would not be some loony left-wing monstrosity. Most  if not all  of these reforms should be bipartisan. If H.R. 1 turns out to be nothing more than a messaging bill, it will reflect more on the opponents who blocked it than on the new Democratic majority pushing it forward.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/sarbanes-statement-on-latest-gop-assault-on-americans-access-to", "Sarbanes Statement on Latest GOP Assault on Americans Access to Affordable Health Care", "2018-12-15", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) released the following statement after a Texas district court judge struck down the Affordable Care Act (ACA):\nAfter many failed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act in Congress, two losing efforts to undermine the law through the Supreme Court and a historic midterm election where the American people overwhelmingly rejected Republicans' repeated attacks on people with pre-exiting conditions, the GOP has once again turned to absurd legal challenges in order to tear away health insurance from millions of Americans and throw the health insurance marketplace into disarray.\nThis ideological, meanspirited and wrongheaded court decision must be immediately appealed. While the GOP's harmful, last-ditch attempt to weaken the ACA continues to play out in the courts, I will join House Democrats in taking swift and methodical action to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions, increase access to health insurance and lower the costs of premiums for American families.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/in-the-news/rep-brown-discuss-army-initiative-stem-related-fields", "Rep. Brown to discuss Army initiative on STEM-related fields", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "BALTIMORE  Maryland Rep. Anthony Brown is scheduled to discuss a U.S. Army initiative to expose more young people to fields related to science, technology, engineering and math in national security.\nBrown will be joined by Under Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy for the event at City Hall in Baltimore.\nMayor Catherine Pugh and Baltimore City Council President Jack Young also are scheduled to attend a meeting with Brown and McCarthy.\nThey will discuss how to better engage more diverse communities in Baltimore and Maryland and strengthen relationships with local community leaders.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-brown-under-secretary-army-ryan-mccarthy-baltimore-city-mayor", "Congressman Brown, Under Secretary Of The Army Ryan McCarthy, Baltimore City Mayor Catherine Pugh, Baltimore City Council President Jack Young Discuss Community Engagement And STEM Opportunities In Baltimore", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The Armed Forces have a critical role to play in communities across the country to uplift those who can and should be achieving in STEM fields, receiving lucrative scholarships, and revolutionizing our defense industries, said Congressman Anthony Brown. This is the beginning of a longer conversation about how we diversify our leadership pipelines, and prepare more young people for public service, service in our armed forces, and a larger role in fields that enhance our national security \n\nOne of Under Secretary McCarthy's top priorities is Connecting to America, an outreach campaign to foster relationships with local leaders and community stakeholders to bridge the knowledge gap between the Army and the American people. To overcome this gap, the Under Secretary will continue to work with local politicians and community leaders on better engaging localities and illustrating the benefits of military service.\n\nI want to thank Baltimore City Mayor Pugh, Congressman Brown, and Baltimore City Council President Young for their time, frank discussion, and for hosting us today in the great city of Baltimore, said Under Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy. Being able to communicate the value of service is an opportunity we appreciate and I sincerely look forward to future discussions.\n\nCloser partnerships with the Army present important opportunities for communities in Baltimore to have another source of investment in education, particularly in STEM fields. As the Army looks to reinvest in JROTC programs and other educational opportunities, it is critical this growth is inclusive and promotes greater diversity in the Army and defense industry.\n\nOur most urgent and important priority is to clear pathways for our young people and to put them in positions to reach their higher aspirations, said Mayor Catherine E. Pugh. We look forward to continued conversations with our federal and military partners around career development and leadership training for our young people that will enable them to access opportunities in public service, the private sector or the armed forces.\n\nAs laid out in the Department of Defense's recent report titled Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States' the defense industry is suffering from the loss of vital skills in the domestic workforce. It is a national security priority to solve this skills gap, and it is incumbent upon Congress, the Department of Defense and the Armed Forces to bridge that divide. Creating more educational partnerships between the Army and cities like Baltimore is the first step toward confronting this challenge.\n  STEM education represents a growing field of opportunity for students in Baltimore City and the surrounding region to gain valuable skills on their way to obtaining high-paying jobs of the future, said Baltimore City Council President Young. Today's conversation is critical to continuing this momentum and further growing the STEM field in Maryland. I look forward to working with Congressman Brown and Under Secretary McCarthy.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=257", "Congressman Brown, Under Secretary Of The Army Ryan McCarthy, Baltimore City Mayor Catherine Pugh, Baltimore City Council President Jack Young Discuss Community Engagement And STEM Opportunities In Baltimore", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", null, 0, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://raskin.house.gov/media/press-releases/maryland-federal-delegation-receives-91-million-commitment-csx-howard-street", "MARYLAND FEDERAL DELEGATION RECEIVES $91 MILLION COMMITMENT FROM CSX FOR HOWARD STREET TUNNEL PROJECT", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Jamie Raskin", "R000606", "raskin.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(WASHINGTON, D.C.) U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, Dutch Ruppersberger, Andy P. Harris, M.D., Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin, met Thursday at the U.S. Capitol with CSX CEO Jim Foote to discuss a path forward on replacing the Howard Street Tunnel, which has widely been described as ancient. The meeting comes almost exactly one year after Foote met with the Maryland delegation to review why the project had been abandoned by the former CEO. During today's meeting, Foote laid out the research done by CSX personnel over the last year and committed to re-engage in the project  with $91 million toward the overall cost.\nWe are pleased that CSX has reversed its position on the Howard Street Tunnel project and is once again supportive and willing to participate, said Senator Cardin. Replacement of the Howard Street Tunnel is in the economic interest of Baltimore and the region, as well as safety for the immediate area. It's now incumbent on all stakeholders  federal, state, local and others in the private-sector who would benefit from this project  to come together to update the finance plan for getting this done in the most efficient and safe manner possible.\nThe Howard Street Tunnel is central to the success of the Port of Baltimore and the region's economy. We were deeply concerned when CSX appeared to be walking away from the deal to expand the tunnel, and we're pleased to hear they're back at the negotiating table and are committing $91 million to the project. We will remain in close contact with all of the partners in this critical project to ensure we are able to move goods and freight across the state to support our workers and our economy, said Senator Van Hollen.\nI am grateful to the CSX leadership for recognizing how vital it is that we create a new Howard Street Tunnel once and for all, said Mayor Pugh. We can no longer neglect essential infrastructure improvements in our City and we welcome this partnership with CSX to get the job done with regard to the Tunnel. This will not only remedy a serious safety hazard, but it's an investment in our City's longer-term competitive interests.\nLast year, my colleagues and I asked CSX to re-examine the value of the Howard Street Tunnel project on which our state and delegation have worked for so long. I am pleased that CSX kept its word and has now concluded that there is significant value in this project and the company is again willing to participate financially, Congressman Cummings said. I look forward to working with the delegation and all stakeholders to see how we can advance this project, rebuild the Howard Street Tunnel, and support the continued growth of our economy.\nMy spirit is up after meeting with CSX's CEO today. They are willing to contribute $91 million to raising the clearance of the Howard Street Tunnel, said Congressman Ruppersberger. This will allow us to double stack containers, reducing the cost of doing business at the Port of Baltimore while generating 34,000 jobs and $2.9 billion for the region. I hope the coalition of stakeholders can come together to bring this worthy project to fruition.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://raskin.house.gov/media/press-releases/ruppersberger-raskin-statement-following-inadvertent-lockdown-walter-reed", "Ruppersberger, Raskin Statement Following Inadvertent Lockdown at Walter Reed Campus Last Month", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Jamie Raskin", "R000606", "raskin.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Congressmen C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02) and Jamie Raskin (MD-08) issued the following statement after meeting with Naval officials Tuesday to discuss the events that led to an 80-minute active shooter lockdown at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center campus on November 27th. Congressman Ruppersberger was on campus that day and experienced the resulting panic and confusion first-hand. Congressman Raskin represents Walter Reed.\nThis week, we were provided with a detailed timeline that suggests a Service Member assigned to a tenant on the Naval Support Activity Bethesda campus inadvertently sent messages stating Exercise Active Shooter and Exercise Suspicious Package to nearly 4,000 people via an emergency alert system that sends voice call, text and email notifications. The Service Member, who we were told had not been properly trained to use the system, intended for the messages to go to only a small group in preparation for a future drill.\nAbout 15 minutes after the alert was sent, a clerk at the front desk of the oncology unit  located in the basement of Building 19  reported receiving several automated telephone messages stating active shooter. The clerk reported they did not hear the words exercise or drill. The report set into motion pre-planned responses for an active shooter event, focusing on Building 19.\nOur concerns center on the welfare of the patients at Walter Reed  many of which are veterans suffering from PTSD and brain injuries  as well as the conflicting messaging coming from the various social media accounts of responding agencies. After a lengthy discussion, we are satisfied that Naval officials share our concerns and are taking proactive steps to correct deficiencies identified during this event. Among other measures, they include:\n Reevaluating who can authorize users of the alert system and who can release messages on that system; updating training requirements before anyone is granted access to the system; setting new controls to prevent a test from triggering an actual response;\n\tTraining and recertifying alert system users on new procedures;\n\tRevising and updating the entire Emergency Management Plan for NSA Bethesda, including updating protocols for communications between installations and tenant commands during an emergency;\n\tDeveloping the ability to provide first responders with keys/access cards and blueprints for all installation buildings;\n\tConducting training exercises using revised procedures\n ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://ruppersberger.house.gov/newsroom/editorials/baltimore-sun-farm-bill-vote-broke-my-heart", "Baltimore Sun: Farm Bill Vote Broke My Heart", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger", "R000576", "ruppersberger.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "There are tough votes, and then there are votes that break your heart.\nMy vote yesterday in support of a procedural rule to advance what's known as the Farm Bill was one that broke my heart. That's because members of the Republican Party's most conservative wing  with the approval of House Speaker Paul Ryan  snuck in a last-minute provision that would make it harder for Congress to end U.S. support of the Saudi coalition at war with Yemen. A war that is causing unspeakable suffering for the innocent people of Yemen.\nThe first question I got after the vote was this: What does the Farm Bill have to do with Yemen? The answer is nothing. But this is what you get when poison pills  or unrelated policy riders  are allowed to be absorbed into otherwise agreeable bills. The Farm Bill was a solid compromise between both parties and both chambers of Congress. After it passed, both Democrats and Republicans alike hailed it as a bipartisan achievement that will do great things for our country, funding priorities like combating the opioid crisis, expanding bioenergy efforts and reducing agricultural pollution. Most importantly, it funds our country's nutrition assistance program called SNAP  or food stamps  that 48.6 million Americans rely on for their next meal, including 250,000 Marylanders.\nUltimately, the Farm Bill succeeded with a huge bipartisan majority. But the Republicans and Democrats now congratulating themselves on this victory would not have had the opportunity to support and pass the Farm Bill if I and four other Democrats had not supported the Yemen rider Republicans decided to make a prerequisite for a vote. Without a rule, the vote would not have taken place. Many Americans could have gone hungry. And the war in Yemen could have still continued.\nLet me be clear: to end the war in Yemen, Congress would still need to pass the concurrent resolution authored by Rep. Ro Khanna withdrawing U.S. military support  a resolution that I am proudly cosponsoring. There's no guarantee that this resolution would pass. In fact, if yesterday's actions are any indication, Republican leadership would likely lobby its members to vote against it.\nThe second question I got was this: don't you care about the starving children in Yemen? The answer is, of course. As a father, a grandfather, a man of faith and conscience, I am sickened by the graphic images we are seeing from journalists documenting the humanitarian crisis and famine. I've been to Yemen several times and I understand the dire circumstances there exacerbated by this war. And my record reflects this. Last year, I voted to repeal the current Authorization for Use of Military Force that President Donald Trump is using as legal justification to support the war in Yemen. I am cosponsoring Congressman Khanna's resolution to withdraw our troops from Yemen. In the 116thCongress, I intend to lead the charge and leverage my role as a defense appropriator to ensure that no money in the Fiscal Year 2020 Defense Appropriations Bill can be used for military operations in Yemen that are not authorized by Congress.\nYesterday was a sad day for me, and for our country. My conservative colleagues tied the well-being of millions of American families, farmers and our natural resources to the ability of Congress to help end an international atrocity. It's shady, it's wrong, it's politics at its ugliest. Thankfully, Republican control of the House of Representatives is about to end. And there's nothing stopping Congress from using the War Powers Resolution to direct the president to withdraw our troops from unauthorized actions in Yemen after the new Congress is sworn in January 3rd.\nMy heart is heavy, but I do not have regrets about the decision I made yesterday. It ensured 48 million Americans will eat tonight. And it strengthened my resolve to fight for peace and security for the citizens of Yemen.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://ruppersberger.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/maryland-federal-delegation-receives-91-million-commitment-from-csx-for", "Maryland Federal Delegation Receives $91 Million Commitment from CSX for Howard Street Tunnel Project", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger", "R000576", "ruppersberger.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON  U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, Dutch Ruppersberger, Andy P. Harris, M.D., Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin, met Thursday at the U.S. Capitol with CSX CEO Jim Foote to discuss a path forward on replacing the Howard Street Tunnel, which has widely been described as ancient. The meeting comes almost exactly one year after Foote met with the Maryland delegation to review why the project had been abandoned by the former CEO. During today's meeting, Foote laid out the research done by CSX personnel over the last year and committed to re-engage in the project  with $91 million toward the overall cost.\nWe are pleased that CSX has reversed its position on the Howard Street Tunnel project and is once again supportive and willing to participate, said Senator Cardin. Replacement of the Howard Street Tunnel is in the economic interest of Baltimore and the region, as well as safety for the immediate area. It's now incumbent on all stakeholders  federal, state, local and others in the private-sector who would benefit from this project  to come together to update the finance plan for getting this done in the most efficient and safe manner possible.\nThe Howard Street Tunnel is central to the success of the Port of Baltimore and the region's economy. We were deeply concerned when CSX appeared to be walking away from the deal to expand the tunnel, and we're pleased to hear they're back at the negotiating table and are committing $91 million to the project. We will remain in close contact with all of the partners in this critical project to ensure we are able to move goods and freight across the state to support our workers and our economy, said Senator Van Hollen.\nI am grateful to the CSX leadership for recognizing how vital it is that we create a new Howard Street Tunnel once and for all, said Mayor Pugh. We can no longer neglect essential infrastructure improvements in our City and we welcome this partnership with CSX to get the job done with regard to the Tunnel. This will not only remedy a serious safety hazard, but it's an investment in our City's longer-term competitive interests.\nLast year, my colleagues and I asked CSX to re-examine the value of the Howard Street Tunnel project on which our state and delegation have worked for so long. I am pleased that CSX kept its word and has now concluded that there is significant value in this project and the company is again willing to participate financially, Congressman Cummings said. I look forward to working with the delegation and all stakeholders to see how we can advance this project, rebuild the Howard Street Tunnel, and support the continued growth of our economy.\nMy spirit is up after meeting with CSX's CEO today. They are willing to contribute $91 million to raising the clearance of the Howard Street Tunnel, said Congressman Ruppersberger. This will allow us to double stack containers, reducing the cost of doing business at the Port of Baltimore while generating 34,000 jobs and $2.9 billion for the region. I hope the coalition of stakeholders can come together to bring this worthy project to fruition.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/big-washington-clean-up-bill-leads-house-democrats-list", "Big Washington Clean-Up Bill  Leads House Democrats' List", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "When the Democrats take over the U.S. House of Representatives in three weeks, their first order of business is expected to be a wide-ranging bill about political corruption, voter disenfranchisement and cleaning up campaign finance. H.R. 1 is about putting a positive set of reforms out there to fix some of the systemic problems we have, said Democratic Representative John Sarbanes, who is leading the effort. The bill is expected to be introduced soon after the 2019-20 Congress convenes on Jan. 3, with hearings to follow. House committees will prepare separate segments of the bill for a House floor vote, due within the first 100 days of 2019.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/from-day-one-democrats-will-fight-to-restore-ethics-to-politics", "From Day One, Democrats Will Fight to Restore Ethics to Politics", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "As we speak with newly elected members of Congress from across the country, we hear one loud, clear, and consistent refrain  that many of them decided to run for office to restore faith in our democratic institutions and return us to a government of, by, and for the people.... Democratic leadership in Congress has heard this call too, and has stated unequivocally that the veryfirst order of businessin the 116th Congress will be to introduce and pass a comprehensive reform bill that will diminish the role of money in politics, restore ethics and integrity to our government, and make sure that every American has access to the ballot box.... On Election Day, Americans held a referendum on the kind of government they want to see. Voters here in Pennsylvania and across the country made clear they want to reestablish the shared ideals that have served as the bedrock of our democracy for more than two centuries. They want to end the corrosive influence of wealthy donors and well-connected special interests. They want public servants to serve the public, not strive for self-enrichment. And they want to make it easier, not harder, to vote....To the people of Pennsylvania and all Americans, we have heard your calls for change, and Democrats stand ready to give you the government you deserve.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-van-hollen-announce-41-million-for-lead-hazard-reduction-in-baltimore", "Cardin, Van Hollen Announce $4.1 Million for Lead Hazard Reduction in Baltimore", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 14, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin, Van Hollen Announce $4.1 Million for Lead Hazard Reduction in Baltimore \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON -- U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.)today announced $4.1 million in federal funding to identify and control lead-based paint hazards in Baltimore City housing units. The funding, awarded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will allow the City to address lead hazards in 250 housing units, providing safer homes for low-income families. Baltimore City will also use the funding to perform healthy homes assessments to identify lead and other housing hazards.\r\nThere is no safe level of lead exposure, so identifying and removing any trace of it in our homes is a matter of public health, said Senator Cardin, a senior member of the Environment and Public Works Committee. These funds will go a long way toward ensuring that we meet our first and most important obligation: keeping Maryland families safe. I'll keep fighting hard for the resources all our communities need to eliminate lead from their homes, whether in their paint or in their water.\r\nNo family should have to worry about their children being poisoned by the water they drink or the paint where they live  not in Maryland or anywhere else in our country. With this funding, we are significantly reducing the risk to our communities and improving the standard of living for Baltimore residents, said Senator Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I will keep fighting to ensure continued federal investment in Maryland's safety and success.\r\nTo carry out these efforts, Baltimore City will work with the Baltimore City Housing Department, Park Heights Renaissance, Rose Street Community Center, Belair-Edison Neighborhoods, Inc., and Druid Heights Community Development Corporation. The City received $3.5 million from HUD's Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction grant program, which aims to identify and control lead-based paint hazards in privately owned housing for rental or owner-occupants. Additionally, the City received $600,000 from the Healthy Homes Supplemental program, which addresses housing-related health and safety hazards that contribute to diseases and injuries in a comprehensive way.\r\nEarlier this year, Senators Cardin and Van Hollen wrote a letter supporting full funding for the HUD Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes. Additionally, the Senators have written to HUD Secretary Ben Carson urging the Department to implement recommendations recently released by the Government Accountability Office to better protect families and children living in federally assisted housing from the consequences of lead poisoning.\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-cardin-announce-41-million-for-lead-hazard-reduction-in-baltimore", "Van Hollen, Cardin Announce $4.1 Million for Lead Hazard Reduction in Baltimore", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 14, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen, Cardin Announce $4.1 Million for Lead Hazard Reduction in Baltimore \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tToday, U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) announced $4.1 million in federal funding to identify and control lead-based paint hazards in Baltimore City housing units. The funding, awarded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will allow the City to address lead hazards in 250 housing units, providing safer homes for low-income families. Baltimore City will also use the funding to perform healthy homes assessments to identify lead and other housing hazards.\r\nNo family should have to worry about their children being poisoned by the water they drink or thepaintwhere they live  not in Maryland or anywhere else in our country. With this funding, we are significantly reducing the risk to our communities and improving the standard of living for Baltimore residents,said Senator Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I will keep fighting to ensure continued federal investment in Maryland's safety and success.\r\nThere is no safe level of lead exposure, so identifying and removing any trace of it in our homes is a matter of public health, said Senator Cardin, a senior member of the Environment and Public Works Committee. These funds will go a long way toward ensuring that we meet our first and most important obligation: keeping Maryland families safe. I'll keep fighting hard for the resources all our communities need to eliminate lead from their homes, whether in their paint or in their water.\r\nTo carry out these efforts, Baltimore City will work with the Baltimore City Housing Department, Park Heights Renaissance, Rose Street Community Center, Belair-Edison Neighborhoods, Inc., and Druid Heights Community Development Corporation. The City received $3.5 million from HUD's Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction grant program, which aims to identify and control lead-based paint hazards in privately owned housing for rental or owner-occupants. Additionally, the City received $600,000 from the Healthy Homes Supplemental program, which addresses housing-related health and safety hazards that contribute to diseases and injuries in a comprehensive way.\r\nEarlier this year, Senators Cardin and Van Hollen wrote a letter supporting full funding for the HUD Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes. Additionally, the Senators have written to HUD Secretary Ben Carson urging the Department to implement recommendations recently released by the Government Accountability Office to better protect families and children living in federally assisted housing from the consequences of lead poisoning.\r\n###\r\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-klobuchar-duckworth-press-gm-for-answers-on-taxes-and-layoffs", "Van Hollen, Klobuchar, Duckworth Press GM for Answers on Taxes and Layoffs", "2018-12-14", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 14, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen, Klobuchar, Duckworth Press GM for Answers on Taxes and Layoffs \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tToday, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) wrote a letter to General Motors (GM) Chairman and CEO Mary Barra seeking answers on how GM is affected by new incentives for offshoring that were created by the Republican tax law and pressing GM to eliminate future stock buybacks, in light of recently announced layoffs in the United States. In addition to their letter, Senators Van Hollen and Duckworth have cosponsored Senator Klobuchar's Removing Incentives for Outsourcing Act which eliminates these offshoring incentives by applying the foreign minimum tax on a country-by-country basis and repealing the exemption from that tax for foreign asset ownership.\r\nThe Senators wrote, We are deeply concerned about the recent actions by General Motors Company (GM) to close factories in the United States, at the same time that GM is expanding production in Mexico and buying back its own stock. We are writing to request information about how GM may be benefiting from new tax incentives for offshoring that were created by the 2017 tax act, and to ask that GM cancel further stock buybacks.\r\nThey urged, Therefore, we are calling on you to release your country-by-country financial reports. We need to understand how much GM can reduce its tax rate by expanding operations overseas while it closes factories here in the United States. This requires country-by-country information on GM's profits, taxes, employees, and tangible assets.\r\nThe Senators continued, Furthermore, we ask that GM cancel its planned stock buybacks. These buybacks make no sense, since GM's stated purpose for closing factories is to free up cash flow for investments in electric and autonomous vehicles. GM has spent $10.6 billion on stock buybacks since 2015, and plans to continue these buybacks until it has spent $14 billion. These buybacks give a windfall to GM's executives and stockholders, while diverting cash flow that GM could use to invest in electric and autonomous vehicles without laying off American workers.\r\nThey closed the letter, stating, GM will receive a huge tax cut under the 2017 tax act in the coming years, and American taxpayers saved GM in the wake of the Great Recession. We hope you will agree that the American people deserve some basic transparency from GM to understand why it is choosing to close plants in the United States even as it expands production in Mexico.\r\n\r\nThe full text of the letter is available here and below. \r\nDear Chairman Barra,\r\nWe are deeply concerned about the recent actions by General Motors Company (GM) to close factories in the United States, at the same time that GM is expanding production in Mexico and buying back its own stock. We are writing to request information about how GM may be benefiting from new tax incentives for offshoring that were created by the 2017 tax act, and to ask that GM cancel further stock buybacks.\r\nThe 2017 tax act gave corporations a tax exemption for their foreign profits. It establishes a territorial tax system under which corporations pay a 21% tax on their domestic profits, but generally pay no U.S. taxes on foreign profits, unless profits are taxed under other provisions. While corporations often pay foreign taxes on foreign profits, many corporations artificially shift their profits into tax haven countries with extremely low rates. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, GM has 13 subsidiaries in tax haven countries, including three in Switzerland.\r\nThe 2017 tax act was supposed to limit abuse of tax havens with a minimum tax on foreign profits known as Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, or GILTI. But the GILTI tax rate is only 10.5%. So a corporation could pay the full GILTI tax rate, and still pay only half as much taxes on its foreign tax haven profits as it does for its domestic profits.\r\nEven worse, corporations can actually reduce their GILTI tax liability by shifting even more of their factories, profits, and jobs overseas. Since the first ten percent return on foreign assets is tax free, there is an incentive in the law to increase offshore investment. Another major concern is that GILTI is not calculated on a country-by-country basis. If it were, then GM would only be able to reduce the GILTI tax on its tax haven profits to the extent that it actually paid taxes to those tax haven countries. Instead, the taxes GM pays in the foreign countries where it builds new factories can be used to reduce GM's GILTI tax from the tax havens where it owns subsidiaries.\r\nThe 2017 tax act was rushed through Congress on a partisan basis without the public hearings or careful analysis that would have been necessary for real tax reform. As a result, taxpayers and businesses across the country are now asking Congress to fix the many glitches in the law, and more glitches continue to be discovered as the public studies this law.\r\nGM workers in the United States have a right to know whether the federal government is giving GM a tax break for shipping jobs overseas. An informed public debate about international corporate tax policy requires more transparency from multinational corporations like GM.\r\nTherefore, we are calling on you to release your country-by-country financial reports. We need to understand how much GM can reduce its tax rate by expanding operations overseas while it closes factories here in the United States. This requires country-by-country information on GM's profits, taxes, employees, and tangible assets.\r\nLarge corporations like GM are already required to provide country-by-country reports to the IRS, so this request does not require significant additional work besides making those reports public.\r\nFurthermore, we ask that GM cancel its planned stock buybacks. These buybacks make no sense, since GM's stated purpose for closing factories is to free up cash flow for investments in electric and autonomous vehicles. GM has spent $10.6 billion on stock buybacks since 2015, and plans to continue these buybacks until it has spent $14 billion. These buybacks give a windfall to GM's executives and stockholders, while diverting cash flow that GM could use to invest in electric and autonomous vehicles without laying off American workers.\r\nGM will receive a huge tax cut under the 2017 tax act in the coming years, and American taxpayers saved GM in the wake of the Great Recession. We hope you will agree that the American people deserve some basic transparency from GM to understand why it is choosing to close plants in the United States even as it expands production in Mexico.\r\nSincerely,\r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/in-the-news/hogans-plan-new-redskins-stadium-parkland-maryland-faces-hurdles-opposition", "Hogan's plan for new Redskins stadium on parkland in Maryland faces hurdles, opposition", "2018-12-13", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Opposition is mounting in the Democratic-controlled Maryland legislature to Gov. Larry Hogan's proposal for a new Redskins stadium in a park overlooking the Potomac River in Prince George's County.\nHouse of Delegates Speaker Michael Busch said Thursday he is opposed to spending taxpayer money on infrastructure for a new stadium when the state has more pressing needs, such as increasing school funding.\nBusch's opposition isn't the only hurdle for Hogan's plan for the 300-acre site at Oxon Cove Park. State lawmakers are submitting legislation to block the move; the Washington Redskins are exploring other sites; a federal environmental study is needed, and both the General Assembly and the U.S. Congress would have to approve various aspects of the deal.\nIn an interview at the State House, Busch said providing infrastructure work for a new Redskins stadium could prove costly.\nI don't know who's going to vote for that, Busch said of Hogan's statement that the state could maybe pay for the necessary infrastructure improvements. He can't pay for the infrastructure he's already promised people.\nHogan has been pushing a parkland swap with federal officials in an effort to identify a site in Maryland where a new Redskins stadium could be built. He proposes that Maryland get federal property at Oxon Cove Park in Prince George's, which it would offer the team. The state would turn over unspecified land in Western Maryland for a battlefield monument federal officials want to create there.\nThe governor and new Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks have been working to try to keep the team in the county, even as the Redskins consider sites in Washington and Virginia, as well.\nThe Republican governor this week touted the potential of a stadium at Oxon Cove Park. He called the site beautiful and wonderful and argued that it is underutilized. Operated by the National Park Service, the park includes 512 acres, a farm museum, bike paths and trails.\nBut Busch said he sees no reason for the Redskins to leave their location 15 miles to the northeast at FedEx Field in Landover.\nThe deal was made with the Redskins before to be in Prince George's County, the Anne Arundel Democrat said. We put tons of money into infrastructure there. I don't know why they think they have to leave. Nobody has convinced me they need to leave.\nTaxpayers in Maryland put up $70.5 million for land, sewer lines, highway interchanges and other infrastructure necessary to move the Redskins to Landover, 5 miles from their old location in Washington. The team financed the $180 million construction of the stadium from private sources. The stadium opened in 1997.\nTaxpayers paid significantly more for the Ravens stadium in Baltimore  a $220 million arena built and financed by the state.\nHogan pledged this week not to use taxpayer money to construct a stadium for Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, but said taxpayers might pay for infrastructure.\nWe're not going to build a billionaire a stadium, Hogan said. We're not going to spend one penny for construction.  Maybe infrastructure improvements.\nRep. Anthony Brown, a Prince George's Democrat, said he shares Hogan's desire to keep the Redskins in the state. But Brown said a transparent process is needed for any deal involving public land  land owned by all of us.\nAny decision made must be the right decision for the local communities impacted by this move, Brown said in a statement. That means fully understanding the potential environmental consequences, the need for new and robust infrastructure investments, and the vision for the future of the current location of FedEx Field in Landover.\"\nHogan has declined to release additional details about the plans  including the site under consideration in western Maryland that the state would offer in the land swap  saying the proposals were far from final. An administration spokeswoman said officials were declining to release memorandums of understanding concerning the deals because they are drafts. She added that Maryland taxpayers have incurred no costs thus far.\nBut state Del. David Moon of Montgomery County said he will introduce legislation in the session that begins Jan. 9 that would block the state from assisting the team with a new stadium.\nLast session, Moon, a Democrat, and Del. Trent Kittleman, a Howard County Republican, tried unsuccessfully to enter into a three-district compact to prevent the Redskins from receiving subsidies from Maryland, the District of Columbia or Virginia.\nThe bill would have prevented Maryland from leasing or donating land to a Washington-area football team, blocked funding of infrastructure projects for the team and prohibited support for construction for a stadium.\nMoon withdrew the bill when companion legislation in Virginia died. But, he said, talk this week of the Oxon Cove deal has energized support for his legislation.\nWe didn't know when the discussions would turn serious, Moon said of the Redskins deal. It seems to be moving a lot faster than we thought. I'm amazed they kept us all in the dark about this for so long.\nAmelia Chasse, a spokeswoman for Hogan, urged lawmakers to hear out plans for the site before moving to block a stadium there.\nRedeveloping this gateway to Maryland has limitless potential, including family attractions, new homes, retail, and businesses that will bring visitors and investment to the state while enriching the surrounding communities, she said. It's surprising and shortsighted that some legislators are trying to block this economic development opportunity for Prince George's County and our state before there's even a proposal on the table.\nChasse added that the administration is open to working with local residents and interested parties to preserve existing historical features and public park spaces on this beautiful piece of land.\nHogan said this week he met personally with both Snyder and U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke multiple times about the deal. Hogan said he finalized a tentative agreement with Zinke last year, but has no firm agreement from Snyder.\nHe called the plan just an idea.\nThe Redskins have been exploring sites in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, including a potential new 60,000-seat stadium at the site of the old RFK Stadium.\nThe team has not commented publicly on the plans. A spokesman did not return a call Thursday requesting comment.\nDel. Erek Barron, a Democrat who represents Landover where FedEx Field is located, said he appreciated the governor's engagement on the issue and wanted to learn more about Hogan's plans.\nBut Barron said he would be concerned for the community if the Redskins moved.\nWhat bothers folks in Prince George's is the feeling there wasn't any communication from the team or from the governor about this, he said. I'm happy we're trying to work with the team. I think it's positive he's attuned to this issue. But I really can't say I'm for the proposal without knowing more.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/in-the-news/howard-street-tunnel-expansion-back-track-csx-gives-91m-commitment", "Howard Street Tunnel Expansion Back On Track, CSX Gives $91M Commitment", "2018-12-13", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "BALTIMORE (WJZ) The Howard Street Tunnel expansion is back ontrackafter the railroad CSX Transportation reversed its decision to pull out of the project.\nThey have now committed $91 million toward it, Maryland officials confirmed Thursday.\nU.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and Congressmen Steny Hoyer, Elijah Cummings, Dutch Ruppersberger, Andy Harris, Anthony Brown and Jamie Raskin, met Thursday at the U.S. Capitol with CSXCEOJim Foote to discuss a path to replace the Howard Street Tunnel.\nThe meeting came almost a year after Foote met with the Maryland delegation toreviewwhy the project had been abandoned by the former CEO.\nSenator Ben Cardin said the delegation was pleased at CSX's reversal on the project.\nWe are pleased that CSX has reversed its position on the Howard Street Tunnel project and is once again supportive and willing to participate,said Senator Cardin. Replacement of the Howard Street Tunnel is in the economic interest of Baltimore and the region, as well as safety for the immediate area. It's now incumbent on all stakeholders  federal, state, local and others in the private-sector who would benefit from this project  to come together to update the finance plan for getting this done in the most efficient and safe manner possible. Cardin said.\nBuilt in the 1890s, it was the longest tunnel in the B&O railroadsystem, brick-lined with iron-arched centerings. The Howard Street Tunnel is on the National Register of Historic Places, but in modern day usefulness, it's considered the choke point on the I-95 of CSX Transportation.Freight trains can only get cargo containers through one car at a time, putting the Port of Baltimore at a competitive disadvantage.\nThe tunnel gained national attention in 2001 with a train derailment and fire that interrupted freight traffic on the East Coast.\nThe project looked to be officially over after CSX withdrew its support, causing state officials to cancel a request for $155 million in federal money for the project.\nI am grateful to the CSX leadership for recognizing how vital it is that we create a new Howard Street Tunnel once and for all,said Mayor Pugh. We can no longer neglect essential infrastructure improvements in our City and we welcome this partnership with CSX to get the job done with regard to the Tunnel. This will not only remedy a serious safety hazard, but it's an investment in our City's longer-term competitive interests.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/republicans-who-slap-voters-in-the-face-may-be-in-for-a-nasty-surprise", "Republicans Who Slap Voters in the Face May Be in for a Nasty Surprise", "2018-12-13", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Republicans in Michigan and Wisconsin who havemoved aggressivelyto steamroll voters and strip power from incoming Democratic officials appear confident that they will pay no political price, and manyanalysts seem to concur.... But that assumption overlooks two powerful lessons from the recent midterms: One, that gerrymanderingcan backfire, particularly when the political winds shift dramatically. And two, that voters are increasingly fed up with assaults on democracy....In the recent midterms, several Democrats won in strongly GOP districts gerrymandered for Republicans, including theEighthand11thDistricts of Michigan, theFirst Districtof South Carolina, theFifth Districtof Oklahoma, and theSeventhand32ndDistricts of Texas. House Democrats in part credit their anti-corruption platform, andhave pledged to approve HR 1, a reform package built on voting rights, campaign finance, redistricting, and ethics changes, as their first order of business in January.... It's folks from across the political spectrum who are demanding this, said Maryland Democrat John Sarbanes, who chairs the House's Democracy Reform Task Force, at a Capitol Hill press conference last month. It's not just Democrats. It's independents, it's Republicans.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/12/13/2018/senate-passes-cardin-young-bipartisan-bill-to-bolster-us-leadership-in-genocide-and-atrocity-prevention", "Senate Passes Cardin, Young Bipartisan Bill to Bolster U.S. Leadership in Genocide and Atrocity Prevention", "2018-12-13", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 13, 2018\n\t\t\t Senate Passes Cardin, Young Bipartisan Bill to Bolster U.S. Leadership in Genocide and Atrocity Prevention \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,lauded Senate passage by unanimous consent Wednesday of bipartisan legislation to bolster U.S. government efforts to prevent genocideand other human rights atrocities around the world. This bill, named in honor of the courageous, inspiring Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, strengthens the U.S. government's infrastructure to prevent, mitigate, and respond to genocide and other mass atrocities wherever they may occur.\r\nThe Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act (S. 1158) would establish a Mass Atrocities Task Force within the State Department to adequately monitor, analyze and address atrocities worldwide by coordinating multiple agencies across the U.S. government; identifying gaps in U.S. policy; and consulting with NGOs and other groups dedicated to atrocity prevention.\r\nThe bill also recommends that the Director of National Intelligence include atrocity crime information in their annual report to Congress on U.S. national security threats, and authorizes training for U.S. Foreign Service Officers in recognizing and reporting on early signs of atrocities and transitional justice measures.\r\nAmerica's strength around the world is rooted in our values. It is in our national interest to ensure that the United States utilizes the full arsenal of diplomatic, economic, and legal tools to take meaningful action before atrocities occur, said Senator Cardin. Earlier this month, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum identified Burmese military actions against the Rohingya as genocide. From Burma to Iraq, South Sudan to Syria, atrocity crimes tragically persist all around the globe. The Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act will help ensure that United States can do a better job of responding earlier and more effectively to these heinous crimes. I urge our House colleagues to pass this landmark legislation before the 115th Congress adjourns.\r\nAmerica's moral principles and national security interests require us to take proactive steps to prevent acts of genocide and other mass atrocities, and this legislation will help support that important objective, said Senator Young. The phrase Never Again' must be more than just a phrase. I was proud to work with Senator Cardin on this important legislation, and I look forward to it being signed into law.\r\nThe full bill text isat this link. The legislation:\r\n \r\nAffirms the importance of strengthening U.S. efforts around mass atrocities through interagency tools like the Atrocities Prevention Board (APB);\r\nStates that preventing genocide and mass atrocities are in the U.S. national interest and calls on the Administration to pursue a government-wide strategy to: strengthen U.S. diplomatic, risk analysis/monitoring, early warning, and response capacities around atrocity crimes; improve the use of U.S. foreign assistance to address the root causes of violent conflict; strengthen support to transitional justice mechanisms and local civil society groups in countries at risk of or experiencing mass atrocities; prioritize preventative diplomacy through unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral mechanisms;\r\nRequires specialized training for Foreign Service Officers who will be deployed to a country experiencing or at risk of mass atrocities; and\r\nMandates annual reporting to Congress of Administration efforts to prevent and respond to mass atrocities and an assessment of countries and regions at risk of such violence.\r\n \r\n\"Senators Young and Cardin's leadership on this bill honors Elie Wiesel's vision for the Museum as a living memorial that would help save victims of future genocides and in doing so honor the victims of the Holocaust. This legislation is an important effort toward developing a bipartisan Congressional blueprint for making 'never again' real by taking practical steps to mitigate the systematic persecution of vulnerable groups,\" saidSara Bloomfield, Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.\r\nWe are grateful to Sens. Young and Cardin for their unwavering bipartisan leadership to prevent mass atrocities and genocide. As Quakers, we seek to address the underlying conditions that lead to violence and hate, and this bill does just that, said Diane Randall, Executive Secretary for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Quaker lobby in the public interest.\r\nJoining the bill as original cosponsors wereU.S. Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/maryland-federal-delegation-receives-91-million-commitment-from-csx-for-howard-street-tunnel-project", "Maryland Federal Delegation Receives $91 Million Commitment from CSX for Howard Street Tunnel Project", "2018-12-13", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 13, 2018\n\t\t\t Maryland Federal Delegation Receives $91 Million Commitment from CSX for Howard Street Tunnel Project \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t As the Port of Baltimore continues to see record growth in international cargo value and volume, upgrading the Howard Street Tunnel, for both safety and capacity, has the potential to transform the economics of freight in the region\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t WASHINGTON  U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, Dutch Ruppersberger, Andy P. Harris, M.D., Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin, met Thursday at the U.S. Capitol with CSX CEO Jim Foote to discuss a path forward on replacing the Howard Street Tunnel, which has widely been described as ancient. The meeting comes almost exactly one year after Foote met with the Maryland delegation to review why the project had been abandoned by the former CEO. During today's meeting, Foote laid out the research done by CSX personnel over the last year and committed to re-engage in the project  with $91 million toward the overall cost.\r\nWe are pleased that CSX has reversed its position on the Howard Street Tunnel project and is once again supportive and willing to participate, said Senator Cardin. Replacement of the Howard Street Tunnel is in the economic interest of Baltimore and the region, as well as safety for the immediate area. It's now incumbent on all stakeholders  federal, state, local and others in the private-sector who would benefit from this project  to come together to update the finance plan for getting this done in the most efficient and safe manner possible.\r\nThe Howard Street Tunnel is central to the success of the Port of Baltimore and the region's economy. We were deeply concerned when CSX appeared to be walking away from the deal to expand the tunnel, and we're pleased to hear they're back at the negotiating table and are committing $91 million to the project. We will remain in close contact with all of the partners in this critical project to ensure we are able to move goods and freight across the state to support our workers and our economy, said Senator Van Hollen.\r\nI am grateful to the CSX leadership for recognizing how vital it is that we create a new Howard Street Tunnel once and for all, said Mayor Pugh. We can no longer neglect essential infrastructure improvements in our City and we welcome this partnership with CSX to get the job done with regard to the Tunnel. This will not only remedy a serious safety hazard, but it's an investment in our City's longer-term competitive interests.\r\nLast year, my colleagues and I asked CSX to re-examine the value of the Howard Street Tunnel project on which our state and delegation have worked for so long. I am pleased that CSX kept its word and has now concluded that there is significant value in this project and the company is again willing to participate financially, Congressman Cummings said. I look forward to working with the delegation and all stakeholders to see how we can advance this project, rebuild the Howard Street Tunnel, and support the continued growth of our economy.\r\nMy spirit is up after meeting with CSX's CEO today. They are willing to contribute $91 million to raising the clearance of the Howard Street Tunnel, said Congressman Ruppersberger. This will allow us to double stack containers, reducing the cost of doing business at the Port of Baltimore while generating 34,000 jobs and $2.9 billion for the region. I hope the coalition of stakeholders can come together to bring this worthy project to fruition.\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/saying-americas-strength-is-in-our-values-cardin-says-us-saudi-relationship-can-endure-but-must-change", "Saying America\u2019s Strength is in Our Values, Cardin Says US-Saudi Relationship Can Endure but Must Change", "2018-12-13", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 13, 2018\n\t\t\t Saying America's Strength is in Our Values, Cardin Says US-Saudi Relationship Can Endure but Must Change \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,released the following statement after the full Senate approved Senate Joint Resolution 54, which would end unauthorized U.S. military support for the Saudi- and UAE-led intervention in Yemen. The Senate also approved a strong rebuke to Saudi Crown Prince Muhamad bin Salman, identifying him as responsible in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.\r\nAmerica's strength is in our values. Continuing to support the military campaign that has brought such suffering to the people of Yemen runs counter to our national interests, our partners and the cause of regional stability. With today's bipartisan vote, the Senate has sent a strong message in the defense of humanity. America also cannot stand by as strongmen and dictators commit heinous crimes, assuming they can use their power and influence to hold them harmless. That may work with the president, but the Senate, speaking on behalf of the American people, made it clear today that we will not allow such crimes to go unchecked.\r\nAmerica's strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia, including the mutual desire to prevent the expansion of Iranian influence and terrorist groups who seek to do us harm, is not helped by our military involvement in the Yemen conflict, our military support to Saudi Arabia, or allowing the individual ultimately responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi to walk away without consequences.\r\nThe U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia must change. Arms sales cannot come at the expense of human rights, mass atrocities, regional destabilization, or the calculated murder of a political opponent. In Yemen, Saudi Arabia has shown a total disregard for international law by leveling devastating attacks on civilians, including young children. The Saudi handling of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was nothing short of an appalling abuse of power and lying on an international scale.\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senate-passes-cardin-young-bipartisan-bill-to-bolster-us-leadership-in-genocide-and-atrocity-prevention", "Senate Passes Cardin, Young Bipartisan Bill to Bolster U.S. Leadership in Genocide and Atrocity Prevention", "2018-12-13", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 13, 2018\n\t\t\t Senate Passes Cardin, Young Bipartisan Bill to Bolster U.S. Leadership in Genocide and Atrocity Prevention \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,lauded Senate passage by unanimous consent Wednesday of bipartisan legislation to bolster U.S. government efforts to prevent genocideand other human rights atrocities around the world. This bill, named in honor of the courageous, inspiring Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, strengthens the U.S. government's infrastructure to prevent, mitigate, and respond to genocide and other mass atrocities wherever they may occur.\r\nThe Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act (S. 1158) would establish a Mass Atrocities Task Force within the State Department to adequately monitor, analyze and address atrocities worldwide by coordinating multiple agencies across the U.S. government; identifying gaps in U.S. policy; and consulting with NGOs and other groups dedicated to atrocity prevention.\r\nThe bill also recommends that the Director of National Intelligence include atrocity crime information in their annual report to Congress on U.S. national security threats, and authorizes training for U.S. Foreign Service Officers in recognizing and reporting on early signs of atrocities and transitional justice measures.\r\nAmerica's strength around the world is rooted in our values. It is in our national interest to ensure that the United States utilizes the full arsenal of diplomatic, economic, and legal tools to take meaningful action before atrocities occur, said Senator Cardin. Earlier this month, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum identified Burmese military actions against the Rohingya as genocide. From Burma to Iraq, South Sudan to Syria, atrocity crimes tragically persist all around the globe. The Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act will help ensure that United States can do a better job of responding earlier and more effectively to these heinous crimes. I urge our House colleagues to pass this landmark legislation before the 115th Congress adjourns.\r\nAmerica's moral principles and national security interests require us to take proactive steps to prevent acts of genocide and other mass atrocities, and this legislation will help support that important objective, said Senator Young. The phrase Never Again must be more than just a phrase. I was proud to work with Senator Cardin on this important legislation, and I look forward to it being signed into law.\r\nThe full bill text isat this link. The legislation:\r\n \r\nAffirms the importance of strengthening U.S. efforts around mass atrocities through interagency tools like the Atrocities Prevention Board (APB);\r\nStates that preventing genocide and mass atrocities are core U.S. national security interests and calls on the Administration to pursue a government-wide strategy to: strengthen U.S. diplomatic, risk analysis/monitoring, early warning, and response capacities around atrocity crimes; improve the use of U.S. foreign assistance to address the root causes of violent conflict; strengthen support to transitional justice mechanisms and local civil society groups in countries at risk of or experiencing mass atrocities; prioritize preventative diplomacy through unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral mechanisms;\r\nRequires specialized training for Foreign Service Officers who will be deployed to a country experiencing or at risk of mass atrocities; and\r\nMandates annual reporting to Congress of Administration efforts to prevent and respond to mass atrocities and an assessment of countries and regions at risk of such violence.\r\n \r\nJoining the bill as original cosponsors wereU.S. Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).\r\n\"Senators Young and Cardin's leadership on this bill honors Elie Wiesel's vision for the Museum as a living memorial that would help save victims of future genocides and in doing so honor the victims of the Holocaust. This legislation is an important effort toward developing a bipartisan Congressional blueprint for making 'never again' real by taking practical steps to mitigate the systematic persecution of vulnerable groups,\" saidSara Bloomfield, Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.\r\nWe are grateful to Sens. Young and Cardin for their unwavering bipartisan leadership to prevent mass atrocities and genocide. As Quakers, we seek to address the underlying conditions that lead to violence and hate, and this bill does just that, said Diane Randall, Executive Secretary for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Quaker lobby in the public interest.\r\n\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/maryland-federal-delegation-receives-91-million-commitment-from-csx-for-howard-street-tunnel-project", "Maryland Federal Delegation Receives $91 Million Commitment from CSX for Howard Street Tunnel Project", "2018-12-13", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 13, 2018\n\t\t\t Maryland Federal Delegation Receives $91 Million Commitment from CSX for Howard Street Tunnel Project \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tAs the Port of Baltimore continues to see record growth in international cargo value and volume,upgrading the Howard Street Tunnel, for both safety and capacity, has the potential to transform the economics of freight in the region\r\nU.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, along with Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, Dutch Ruppersberger, Andy P. Harris, M.D., Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin, met Thursday at the U.S. Capitol with CSX CEO Jim Foote to discuss a path forward on replacing the Howard Street Tunnel, which has widely been described as ancient. The meeting comes almost exactly one year after Foote met with the Maryland delegation to review why the project had been abandoned by the former CEO. During today's meeting, Foote laid out the research done by CSX personnel over the last year and committed to re-engage in the project  with $91 million toward the overall cost.\r\nThe Howard Street Tunnel is central to the success of the Port of Baltimore and the region's economy. We were deeply concerned when CSX appeared to be walking away from the deal to expand the tunnel, and we're pleased to hear they're back at the negotiating table and are committing $91 million to the project. We will remain in close contact with all of the partners in this critical project to ensure we are able to move goods and freight across the state to support our workers and our economy,said Senator Van Hollen.\r\nWe are pleased that CSX has reversed its position on the Howard Street Tunnel project and is once again supportive and willing to participate, said Senator Cardin. Replacement of the Howard Street Tunnel is in the economic interest of Baltimore and the region, as well as safety for the immediate area. It's now incumbent on all stakeholders  federal, state, local and others in the private-sector who would benefit from this project  to come together to update the finance plan for getting this done in the most efficient and safe manner possible.\r\nI am grateful to the CSX leadership for recognizing how vital it is that we create a new Howard Street Tunnel once and for all, said Mayor Pugh. We can no longer neglect essential infrastructure improvements in our City and we welcome this partnership with CSX to get the job done with regard to the Tunnel. This will not only remedy a serious safety hazard, but it's an investment in our City's longer-term competitive interests.\r\nLast year, my colleagues and I asked CSX to re-examine the value of the Howard Street Tunnel project on which our state and delegation have worked for so long. I am pleased that CSX kept its word and has now concluded that there is significant value in this project and the company is again willing to participate financially, Congressman Cummings said. I look forward to working with the delegation and all stakeholders to see how we can advance this project, rebuild the Howard Street Tunnel, and support the continued growth of our economy.\r\nMy spirit is up after meeting with CSX's CEO today. They are willing to contribute $91 million to raising the clearance of the Howard Street Tunnel, said Congressman Ruppersberger. This will allow us to double stack containers, reducing the cost of doing business at the Port of Baltimore while generating 34,000 jobs and $2.9 billion for the region. I hope the coalition of stakeholders can come together to bring this worthy project to fruition.\r\n\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-joins-senate-colleagues-in-calling-on-president-trump-to-preserve-nuclear-treaties", "Van Hollen Joins Senate Colleagues in Calling on President Trump to Preserve Nuclear Treaties", "2018-12-13", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 13, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen Joins Senate Colleagues in Calling on President Trump to Preserve Nuclear Treaties \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tSenators: Your Administration's Efforts to Double Down on New, Unnecessary Nuclear Weapons While Scrapping Mutually Beneficial Treaties Risks the United States Sliding Into Another Arms Race with Russia and Erodes U.S. Nonproliferation Efforts Around the World\r\nToday U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) joined a group of 26 Senators in urging President Trump to uphold the longstanding bipartisan consensus on nuclear arms control. The Senators' letter follows President Trump's alarming decision to develop new nuclear weapons while also moving to unilaterally abandon vitally important nuclear weapons treaties. The Senators called on the Trump administration to maintain our commitment to arms reduction by working with our allies to address Russia's violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty instead of unilaterally withdrawing from the Treaty, and by extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which limits Russian nuclear weapons and provides the U.S. intelligence community with invaluable insights.\r\nYour administration's efforts to double down on new, unnecessary nuclear weapons while scrapping mutually beneficial treaties risks the United States sliding into another arms race with Russia and erodes U.S. nonproliferation efforts around the world, the Senators wrote to the President. A collapse of the INF Treaty and failure to renew New START would lead to the absence of verifiable limits on U.S. and Russian nuclear forces for the first time since the early 1970s. We ask you to reverse the recent course set by your administration and instead point our nation back towards stability.\r\nThe letter is signed by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Thomas R. Carper (D-DE), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), Cory A. Booker (D-NJ), Patty Murray (D-WA), Christopher S. Murphy (D-CT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Gary C. Peters (D-MI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).\r\n\r\nThe full text of the Senators' letter can be found here and below:\r\nDear President Trump,\r\nIn the 116th Congress, we will sustain our longstanding commitment to providing the resources needed to secure our nation and defend America's allies. However, we write out of deep concern that your administration is now abandoning generations of bipartisan U.S. leadership around the paired goals of reducing the global role and number of nuclear weapons and ensuring strategic stability with America's nuclear-armed adversaries.\r\nYour administration's efforts to double down on new, unnecessary nuclear weapons while scrapping mutually beneficial treaties risks the United States sliding into another arms race with Russia and erodes U.S. nonproliferation efforts around the world.\r\nFirst, to put us on a safer path, we urge you to redouble diplomatic efforts to preserve the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty rather than simply terminating it. One of President Reagan's most significant accomplishments, and approved by the Senate in a vote of 93-5, the INF Treaty eliminated an entire class of missiles and formed the foundation for subsequent verifiable bilateral arms control treaties.\r\nWe should address Russia's serious violation of the Treaty arising from its production, flight-testing, and deployment of a non-compliant ground-launched cruise missile (Novator 9M729, or SSC-8) by vigorously exploring a diplomatic resolution in close concert with our allies. NATO's unanimous condemnation of Russia's INF violation is a positive first step. However, the U.S. still lacks a comprehensive strategy to address the security threats that would result from a collapse of the INF Treaty. A U.S withdrawal from INF will embolden Russia to deploy, without any legal constraint, an unlimited number of currently banned missiles, thereby increasing the threat to our allies and forward deployed troops in Europe.\r\nWe must both hold Russia accountable for its violation of the INF Treaty and ensure that the United States and its allies maintain Treaty-compliant capabilities to deny any military gain Russia hopes to gain by its violation. In October of this year, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated, We don't want a new arms race and therefore I don't foresee that Allies will station more nuclear weapons in Europe as a response to the new Russian missile. Failure to weigh the concerns of allies risks weakening the joint resolve necessary to counter Russia's aggressive behavior while handing Russia a get out of jail free card for its Treaty violation.\r\nSecond, we are concerned that your administration has taken no concrete steps toward extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia, which is due to expire in February 2021. A collapse of the INF Treaty and failure to renew New START would lead to the absence of verifiable limits on U.S. and Russian nuclear forces for the first time since the early 1970s. New START provides the U.S. military and intelligence community with crucial insight into the location, movement, and elimination of Russia's strategic forces. Abandoning the Treaty would free Russia to expand its capacity to directly threaten the entire U.S. homeland.\r\nFinally, we are also concerned that your proposed new types of nuclear weapons threaten the bipartisan consensus that investments in the U.S. nuclear weapons deterrent and supporting infrastructure must be accompanied by pursuit of continued arms control measures.\r\nIn the 116th Congress, the Democratic Caucus will work to maintain generations of U.S. global leadership in reducing the salience and number of nuclear weapons. We ask you to reverse the recent course set by your administration and instead point our nation back towards stability.\r\n\r\nSincerely,\r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-secures-provisions-to-help-veteran-socially-disadvantaged-farmers-in-farm-bill", "Van Hollen Secures Provisions to Help Veteran, Socially Disadvantaged Farmers in Farm Bill", "2018-12-13", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 13, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen Secures Provisions to Help Veteran, Socially Disadvantaged Farmers in Farm Bill \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tToday, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced that much of his legislation to improve access to assistance for veteran and socially disadvantaged farmers has been included in the 2018 Farm Bill. The Senator's provisions, originally introduced in his Assist Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Act of 2018 would reauthorize, strengthen, and improve the Outreach to Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The 2018 Farm Bill also authorizes permanent mandatory funding for the Program, ensuring it has the investment it needs to serve people in Maryland and across the country. This week, the Farm Bill passed the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives  it is now headed to the President's desk. \r\nSince 1990, the Outreach to Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program has served as the only USDA program dedicated to addressing the specific needs of veteran, African-American, American-Indian, Asian-American, and Latino family farmers and ranchers. Through this program, the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore has received more than $1 million in funding for outreach and assistance to farmers on the Eastern Shore since 2003.\r\nWhether you're coming off the battlefield or trying to launch a new career, starting and operating a farm isn't easy. This program helps veterans and underserved populations get the training and support they need to succeed. We want to expand America's farming opportunities, and this is an important tool to accomplish that, said Senator Van Hollen. I was pleased to introduce this legislation and to work with my colleagues to secure these provisions in the Farm Bill.\r\nThe Outreach to Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program at USDA has been the primary tool to help our nation's underserved producers gain access to USDA services. The program is administered by the Office of Outreach and Advocacy and helps ensure that veteran, minority population, and immigrant farmers and ranchers have opportunities to successfully own, operate, and retain farms and ranches, and to equitably participate in USDA programs. The bill reauthorizes the program, which would have expired this year, through 2023. It also makes several programmatic improvements to strengthen the operation of the program.\r\nThe Senator's proposal was supported by over 100 groups, from the Rural Coalition to the Sierra Club to the National Family Farm Coalition. Background on the proposal, along with a full list of supporting organizations, can be found here.\r\nWhen the bill was introduced, David Paulk, a veteran and farmer from St. Mary's County, Maryland said, When I left the Navy and considered my next career, I never imagined that I could go from a small backyard garden to being a full-time farmer. But I was able to combine my skills from my military service  including the ability to research, organize, manage and complete complex tasks, needed in developing a farm business plan and marketing strategies  with the experience of working on a local farm. That allowed me to open my own 80-acre farm in St. Mary's County. Senator Van Hollen's legislation will help put more veterans  and other underserved individuals  on the path tooperating and owning their own farms. I appreciate Senator Van Hollen's efforts on this issue, and I hope my fellow veterans will be able to take advantage of this program.\r\nEach year, for the last five years, UMES reaches an average of 120 farmers in Maryland and along the Delmarva Peninsula,said Berran Rogers, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore's Small Farm Program coordinator, when the legislation was first announced. As a result, socially disadvantaged farmers are in a better position to make improved farm business decisions, gain access to agricultural resources and ultimately realize their dream of owning and operating a farm successfully. Such an impact would not have been possible without the Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers program.\r\n\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-warren-ask-senate-banking-committee-to-investigate-deutsche-bank", "Van Hollen, Warren Ask Senate Banking Committee to Investigate Deutsche Bank", "2018-12-13", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 13, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen, Warren Ask Senate Banking Committee to Investigate Deutsche Bank \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tToday U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), both members of the Senate Banking Committee, wrote to Chairman Crapo asking the Banking Committee to launch a detailed, bipartisan investigation into Deutsche Bank.\r\nOver the past several years, Deutsche Bank has been the subject of numerous enforcement actions in the in the United States and abroad, and just weeks ago the bank's head office and other locations in Frankfurt were raided by 170 police officers and tax investigators as part of a money laundering probe, the Senators wrote. Given the Committee's jurisdiction over banking regulatory enforcement, Deutsche Bank's history of regulatory problems, and the recent allegations of money laundering that resulted in the recent raid conducted by German law enforcement, we request that the Banking Committee undertake an investigation into Deutsche Bank and its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations.\r\nThe full text of the letter is available here and below.\r\nDear Chairman Crapo:\r\nOver the past several years, Deutsche Bank has been the subject of numerous enforcement actions in the in the United States and abroad, and just weeks ago the bank's head office and other locations in Frankfurt were raided by 170 police officers and tax investigators as part of a money laundering probe.\r\nGiven the Committee's jurisdiction over banking regulatory enforcement, Deutsche Bank's history of regulatory problems, and the recent allegations of money laundering that resulted in the recent raid conducted by German law enforcement, we request that the Banking Committee undertake an investigation into Deutsche Bank and its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations.\r\nThe compliance history of this institution raises serious questions about the national security and criminal risks posed by its U.S. operations. This is particularly so, given its history of inadequate risk management and compliance policies and controls, poor corporate culture, the nature and scale of its activities in Russia, and the fact that its correspondent banking operations in the U.S. serve as a gateway to the U.S. financial system for Deutsche Bank entities around the world. In addition to actions related to the BSA and AML, the Federal Reserve, the New York Department of Financial Services and the UK Financial Conduct Authority brought actions against the bank for its role in facilitating suspicious transactions resulting in the movement of about $10 billion -- generated by unknown Russians behind anonymous shell corporations -- out of Russia over a four year period. Deutsche Bank has yet to provide a detailed explanation of those transactions, the parties involved, and how and why it facilitated them.\r\nWe are particularly concerned with Deutsche Bank's role in correspondent banking - particularly the question of whether Deutsche Bank's relationships with foreign institutions are allowing these foreign institutions and their customers access to the U.S. banking system.\r\nFor many years, correspondent banking has been recognized as a vulnerable pathway for the movement of illicit funds on behalf of terrorists, drug traffickers, corrupt officials, and fraud operations. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2012 federal consent orders and settlements with the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Corporation (HSBC), among other examples, demonstrate that criminal networks continue to launder money with the help of correspondent banking. Title III of the Patriot Act established standards that institutions must follow in their correspondent banking operations and international anti-money laundering organizations have also focused on this activity as a key area of risk. But, these laws have not fully addressed problems.\r\nJust this year, news outlets reported that Deutsche Bank, along with several other financial institutions, served as correspondent banks for ABLV, a Latvian Bank that Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) found was laundering money and evading sanctions against North Korea. The correspondent banking relationship between ABLV and these financial institutions allowed money to move more easily between the Latvian bank and the U.S. financial markets. But ABLV is not the only example of how Deutsche Bank's correspondent banking relationships have been implicated in money laundering schemes. In November, the Wall Street Journal reported that an internal review found that Deutsche Bank handled about $150 billion of potentially suspicious transactions tied to Danske Bank, the largest financial institution in Denmark, implicating it in a $230 billion money laundering scheme.\r\nIn light of the Committee's recent hearings and discussion of enacting legislation to modify the Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering statutes, we believe that additional hearings should be held to better assess the adequacy of existing anti-money laundering safeguards. A case study of the history of Deutsche Bank's compliance problems, with a focus on its correspondent banking operations, would provide Committee members with detailed examples that would help them better understand the nature and scope of such risks, and what is needed to prevent them. To that end, we request that, in the new Congress, you support a thorough, detailed bipartisan Committee investigation into Deutsche Bank's compliance history, with a focus on its correspondent banking operations and vulnerabilities to money laundering, to be followed by a report and hearing.\r\nWe thank you for your attention to this issue and look forward to working with you on these matters.\r\nSincerely,\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/in-the-news/trump-suggests-again-military-could-build-border-wall", "Trump suggests again the military could build a border wall", "2018-12-12", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "TRUMP SUGGESTS AGAIN MILITARY COULD BUILD THE WALL HE WANTS ON THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER:If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall, President Donald Trumptweetedahead of an Oval Office meeting with Democratic congressional leaders about looming partial government shutdown when funding runs out on Dec. 21.\nDoD ASSERTS AUTHORIZATION:The Defense Department has no plans now to build sections of the wall, but could under certain options, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Pentagon said in a written statement Tuesday.\nFor example, he said, DoD could fund border barrier projects in support of counter drug operations or national emergencies.\nBUT DEMOCRATS CRY FOUL:Some House Armed Services Democrats, though, were quick to push back, insisting the president can't use the military to circumvent Congress.\nThe president cannot circumvent Congress and use the military to build his absurd, ineffective border wall, and if the border is as secure as the president claims, then he must immediately bring troops deployed to the border home for the holidays, Rep.Anthony Brown(D-Md.), said in a statement.\nSenate Armed Services ChairmanJim Inhofe(R-Okla.), however, suggested he would be open to supporting using defense funds for a border wall, as long as it doesn't diminish the amount of money that's going to go for warfighting.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://ruppersberger.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/ruppersberger-issues-statement-on-vote-in-support-of-rule-advancing", "Ruppersberger Issues Statement on Vote in Support of Rule Advancing Compromise Farm Bill", "2018-12-12", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger", "R000576", "ruppersberger.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(Washington, D.C.)  Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger today issued the following statement after voting to support a rule advancing the compromise Farm Bill:\nI supported today's rule because my vote was needed to counter the effort by the Freedom Caucus to derail the Farm Bill, which contains critical investments for priorities ranging from bioenergy to the opioid crisis to the Chesapeake Bay restoration. The nutritional assistance program funded by the Farm Bill (SNAP) is a lifeline for 42 million Americans.\nI want to be clear that I support the House having a full, complete, and open debate on U.S. military support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, especially in light of recent events. I am supporting a resolution to withdraw our troops from Yemen. I have also voted to repeal the current AUMF that the President is using as legal justification for the war in Yemen.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/sarbanes-statement-on-farm-bill", "Sarbanes Statement on the Farm Bill", "2018-12-12", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) released the following statement today after voting for the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (H.R. 2):\nThis year's farm bill delivers on many important priorities for Marylanders.\nAmong its many positive provisions, the bill increases funding to maintain the health and vitality of the Chesapeake Bay and includes several key pieces of the Chesapeake Bay Farm Enhancement Act  a bill that I cosponsored to help farmers reduce nutrient and sediment pollution in surrounding watersheds. The farm bill also increases funding for telemedicine programs, substance use disorder treatment and other critical health care services in rural communities.\nI want to applaud the efforts of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for casting aside partisan poison pills  like drastically cutting funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program  and working together to get this crucial and beneficial piece of legislation across the finish line.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-on-senate-passage-of-resolution-to-overturn-trump-dark-money-rule", "Cardin on Senate Passage of Resolution to Overturn Trump Dark Money Rule", "2018-12-12", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 12, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin on Senate Passage of Resolution to Overturn Trump Dark Money Rule \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON  U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, called the passage of a resolution of disapproval that would overturn a Treasury ruling that hides the identities of large donors from U.S. tax authorities, a positive step that will restore some semblance of transparency in the flood of outside money in elections. The rule change that the Senate voted to overturn would have opened the door to anonymous dark money donations and would have significantly hampered the ability of the IRS, law enforcement and police to track potential laundering of money through the political system. It also would have greatly increased the chance of foreign funds, which are banned from political donations, making their way into political organizations knowingly or unknowingly open to outside influences.\r\nNearly unfettered injections of dark money into political campaigns drown out the voices of everyday Americans and pervert our system into pay for play' politics. Congress has a responsibility to the very people who elect us into office that the rules will be transparent and organizations will follow the law. There was a time when getting money out of politics was a bipartisan goal. I was proud to see the Senate return to such a state even for a short time today.\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senator-cardin-defends-press-freedom-applauds-time-magazines-people-of-the-year-choice", "Senator Cardin Defends Press Freedom, Applaud's TIME Magazine's \"People of the Year\" Choice", "2018-12-12", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 12, 2018\n\t\t\t Senator Cardin Defends Press Freedom, Applaud's TIME Magazine's \"People of the Year\" Choice \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t The free press truly are The Guardians of a free society\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t Remarks as delivered on the Senate floor tonight:\r\n\"I rise today to commend Time Magazine for their selection of their 'Person of the Year' as 'The Guardians and the War on Truth.' I say it is related because Jamal Khashoggi is one of the figures on the cover of Time Magazine as one of the Guardians.\r\n\"In making their selection, Time Magazine wrote: 'For taking great risks in pursuit of greater truths, for the imperfect but essential quest for facts that are central to civil discourse, for speaking up and for speaking out, the Guardians' are the Person of the Year. Time Magazine wrote: 'As we looked at the choices, it became clear that the manipulation and abuse of truth is really the common thread in so many of this year's major storiesthis ought to be a time when democracy leaps forward, an informed citizenry being essential to self-government. Instead, it's in retreat. And the story of this assault on truth is, somewhat paradoxically, one of the hardest to tell.'\r\n\"Time Magazine wrote in this week's issue: 'In Annapolis, Md., staff of the Capital, a newspaper published by Capital Gazette Communications, which traces its history of telling readers about the events in Maryland to before the American Revolution, press on without the five colleagues gunned down in their newsroom on June 28. Still intact, indeed strengthened after the mass shooting, are the bonds of trust and community that for national news outlets have been eroded on strikingly partisan lines, never more than this year.\r\n\"'I can tell you this,' declared Chase Cook, a reporter for the Capital Gazette on that fateful day. 'We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow.' Cook's promise came just a few hours after five of his colleagues were killed. The man charged with their murders had been obsessed with the paper since it wrote about his harassment of a high school classmatepart of its routine coverage of local legal proceedings. He made the office a crime scene. To put the damn paper out, staffers set up laptops in the bed of a pickup in a parking garage across the street.\r\n\"When the next edition arrivedon schedulethe opinion page was blank but for the names of the dead. Gerald Fischman. Rob Hiaasen. John McNamara. Rebecca Smith. Wendi Winters. Beneath their names was a coda that might have been written with a goose quill: Tomorrow this page will return to its steady purpose of offering our readers informed opinion about the world around them, that they might be better citizens.\r\n\"I must tell you that I am very proud of what the Capital Gazette has done. They continue through very difficult times with quality reporting and opinion pages that they have been known for for a long time. It is a real treasured institution in our state capital.\r\n\"One of the four Time Magazine covers include the journalists at the Capital Gazette, the Annapolis, Maryland newspaper where five employees were murdered by a gunman last June. I spoke about this shooting on the Senate floor last June, and the Senate unanimously adopted S. Res. 575, which I authored and which was co-sponsored by all members of the Senate. This Senate resolution commemorates the lives, careers, and service of the five victims of the Capital Gazette shooting in Annapolis, Maryland; honors the survivors of the attack and the families of the victims and pledges continued support for their recovery; thanks law enforcement officers and other emergency first responders for their heroic actions; and reaffirms the commitment of the Senate to defending the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.\r\n\"Wendi Winters was among the five Capital Gazette employees killed in the June 28 shooting. According to eyewitness accounts from survivors, Wendi armed herself with the closest weapons at hand  her trash and recycling bins  and charged the shooter, shouting for him to stop. It is believed that Wendi's actions distracted the shooter enough to enable several of her coworkers to escape.\r\n\"We think of violence against reporters as something that happens in other countries, in war zones and the like, but not here, not in the United States of America. All around the world, reporters work to gather facts, ask questions, and report the news in the spirit of the free, open, and transparent societies and governments that all people deserve. Too often, reporters are harassed, jailed, and even killed simply because of the nature of theirwork, which often exposes cronyism and corruption.\r\n\"Jason Renzaian, a reporter for the Washington Post who was falsely imprisoned in Iran for doing his job as a journalist, had this to say earlier this year. He talks about that attack I referenced earlier in Annapolis.\r\n\"'Mostly I've covered attacks on the media taking place on the other side of the world, usually in countries where the flow of information is restricted, or conditions are such that a sense of desperation or political or tribal affiliation can compel individuals to take heinous action Writing about a deadly attack that happened less than 30 miles away, in an idyllic town that I recently visited with relatives from overseas, is a new experience for me. And I have to say that I don't relish the task.'\r\n\"We Americans have certain rights and responsibilities granted to us through the Constitution, which established the rule of law in this country. Freedom of the press is one of those most basic rights and it is central to the First Amendment to the Constitution: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.' This precious freedom has often been under attack, figuratively speaking, since our Nation's founding.\r\n\"Today, attacks on the American media have become more frequent and more literal, spurred on by dangerous rhetoric that has created an 'open season' on harassing the media for doing its job  asking questions that need to be asked, investigating the stories that need to be uncovered, and bringing needed transparency to the halls of power whether they are in Annapolis; Washington, DC; or elsewhere.\r\n\"Then-candidate and now President Donald Trump's rhetoric  calling the media 'a stain on America' and 'the enemy of the American people'  certainly has caused damage. At the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the President said to the audience 'They're not to believe what you see and hear.' \"The President of United States told a crowd of veterans: 'Stick with us don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. What you're seeing and what you're reading is not happening.' That is the President of the United States saying those comments; again, demeaning the press and the importance of our free press. \r\n\"Why is the president doing this? Earlier this year, CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl, an icon in the news business, shared comments from Donald Trump from an interview she did with him soon after his 2016 election win. Stahl recalled that she said to Donald Trump about his attacks on the media, 'Why are you doing this? You're doing it over and over. It's boring and it's time to end this.' The Candidate's response was straight forward and shocking: He said, 'You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.'\r\n\"Let that sink in for a moment. A man who was about to assume the position of President of the United States explicitly acknowledging he was purposely working to diminish the integrity of the free press.\r\n\"After the Capital Gazette shooting, Donald Trump said that 'journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job.' But how do we interpret his sincerity when, more frequently, he is calling the media 'fake news' or 'totally unhinged' and telling the American people  and the world  that reporters are 'truly bad people'? Donald Trump's constant dismissals needs to end. He needs to accept that one of the press' most important roles is to speak truth to power  including to the President of the United States.\r\n\"Here at home, we're left to wonder whether Donald Trump is more inclined to agree with Russian President Vladimir Putin's view of the press  where journalists are routinely jailed and physically attacked  than Thomas Jefferson, who famously said: 'Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.'\r\n\"Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job  both figuratively and literally. The right of journalists to report the news is nothing less than the right of all of us to know. Media freedom and media pluralism are essential for the expression of, or ensuring respect for, other fundamental freedoms and safeguarding democracy, the rule of law, and a system of checks and balances.\r\n\"Every one of us in this body  Democrats and Republicans  has sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. As leaders of this great Nation, we have a responsibility to defend the rights of our citizens, including the freedom of the press.\r\n\"Time Magazine features three over covers, in addition to the Capital Gazette. One is Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post contributor who was killed at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October. I would note that this is the first time that a Time Person of the Year is a deceased person.\r\n\"The United States of America is supposed to stand up for justice and human rights at home and abroad. I agree that Saudi Arabia is a strong ally in a variety of important areas, but that should only strengthen their understanding of America's commitment to the rule of law and that we, as a nation, cannot sanction extrajudicial killings. America's national security is harmed, not helped, when dictators and strongmen believe they can get away with such heinous actions as the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Congress must act to send the right signal to the world that despite our current president, America will continue to be a beacon of justice and defender of human rights.\r\n\"Another cover features two Reuters journalists who were arrested one year ago in Myanmar while they were working on stories about the killings of Rohingya Muslims. These journalists remain behind bars, but their wives were photographed for the cover. From this floor, I've stood in solidarity with these Reuters reporters who were detained in Burma for shining a light on the horrific abuses that occurred in the Royhingan state.\r\n\"I have stood in solidarity with Ethiopian journalists and bloggers who are routinely arrested for criticizing the Ethiopian government and exposing human rights abuses in that country. I have talked frequently about China, a country that engages in routine censorship and online blocking; harassment, reprisals, and detention of journalists; and visa delaysand denials for journalists.\r\n\"Another Time Magazine cover shows Maria Ressa, the chief executive of the Philippine news website Rappler, who was indicted on tax evasion charges by President Duterte's administration as part of a crackdown on free speech and dissent.\r\n\"According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide, more than 600 journalists and media workers have been killed in the last 10 years while doing their job.\r\n\"Of the member States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Russia remains the deadliest country for journalists. Turkey is the largest jailer of journalists in the world, and scores of media outlets have been closed since the attempted coup there. The heavy-handed measures used against media freedom in Turkey, both before and during the recent elections, illustrates the lengths to which the government went to control the information available to voters. It also serves as a reminder of the essential role of a pluralistic media for free and fair elections.\r\n\"I have also worked in many other countries that have infringed on the freedom of press, in my role on Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as the ranking Democrat on the Helsinki Commission. I could give you examples of what we have done in Malta, what we have done in Slovakia, what we have done in Belarus, and the list goes on and on and on.\r\n\"I therefore ask the Trump Administration and my colleagues in the Senate to redouble their efforts to protect the freedom of the press both at home at abroad. We must lead by example, as the very foundation and legitimacy of our democratic republic is at stake.\r\n\"America's leadership is essential to protect the freedom of press, an essential institution for a democratic state. We must lead by first setting an example by our commitment to the freedom of press here at home. We must demand that freedom of the press be a priority in our global affairs, recognizing it's important to our national security. Time Magazine got it right by naming the guardians and the war on truth as Persons of the Year.\"\r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/01/23/2019/van-hollen-klobuchar-duckworth-press-gm-for-answers-on-taxes-and-layoffs", "Van Hollen, Klobuchar, Duckworth Press GM for Answers on Taxes and Layoffs", "2018-12-12", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 12, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen, Klobuchar, Duckworth Press GM for Answers on Taxes and Layoffs \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tToday, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) wrote a letter to General Motors (GM) Chairman and CEO Mary Barra seeking answers on how GM is affected by new incentives for offshoring that were created by the Republican tax law and pressing GM to eliminate future stock buybacks, in light of recently announced layoffs in the United States. In addition to their letter, Senators Van Hollen and Duckworth have cosponsored Senator Klobuchar's Removing Incentives for Outsourcing Act which eliminates these offshoring incentives by applying the foreign minimum tax on a country-by-country basis and repealing the exemption from that tax for foreign asset ownership.\r\nThe Senators wrote, We are deeply concerned about the recent actions by General Motors Company (GM) to close factories in the United States, at the same time that GM is expanding production in Mexico and buying back its own stock. We are writing to request information about how GM may be benefiting from new tax incentives for offshoring that were created by the 2017 tax act, and to ask that GM cancel further stock buybacks.\r\nThey urged, Therefore, we are calling on you to release your country-by-country financial reports. We need to understand how much GM can reduce its tax rate by expanding operations overseas while it closes factories here in the United States. This requires country-by-country information on GM's profits, taxes, employees, and tangible assets.\r\nThe Senators continued, Furthermore, we ask that GM cancel its planned stock buybacks. These buybacks make no sense, since GM's stated purpose for closing factories is to free up cash flow for investments in electric and autonomous vehicles. GM has spent $10.6 billion on stock buybacks since 2015, and plans to continue these buybacks until it has spent $14 billion. These buybacks give a windfall to GM's executives and stockholders, while diverting cash flow that GM could use to invest in electric and autonomous vehicles without laying off American workers.\r\nThey closed the letter, stating, GM will receive a huge tax cut under the 2017 tax act in the coming years, and American taxpayers saved GM in the wake of the Great Recession. We hope you will agree that the American people deserve some basic transparency from GM to understand why it is choosing to close plants in the United States even as it expands production in Mexico.\r\nThe full text of the letter is available here and below.\r\nDear Chairman Barra,\r\nWe are deeply concerned about the recent actions by General Motors Company (GM) to close factories in the United States, at the same time that GM is expanding production in Mexico and buying back its own stock. We are writing to request information about how GM may be benefiting from new tax incentives for offshoring that were created by the 2017 tax act, and to ask that GM cancel further stock buybacks.\r\nThe 2017 tax act gave corporations a tax exemption for their foreign profits. It establishes a territorial tax system under which corporations pay a 21% tax on their domestic profits, but generally pay no U.S. taxes on foreign profits, unless profits are taxed under other provisions. While corporations often pay foreign taxes on foreign profits, many corporations artificially shift their profits into tax haven countries with extremely low rates. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, GM has 13 subsidiaries in tax haven countries, including three in Switzerland.\r\nThe 2017 tax act was supposed to limit abuse of tax havens with a minimum tax on foreign profits known as Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, or GILTI. But the GILTI tax rate is only 10.5%. So a corporation could pay the full GILTI tax rate, and still pay only half as much taxes on its foreign tax haven profits as it does for its domestic profits.\r\nEven worse, corporations can actually reduce their GILTI tax liability by shifting even more of their factories, profits, and jobs overseas. Since the first ten percent return on foreign assets is tax free, there is an incentive in the law to increase offshore investment. Another major concern is that GILTI is not calculated on a country-by-country basis. If it were, then GM would only be able to reduce the GILTI tax on its tax haven profits to the extent that it actually paid taxes to those tax haven countries. Instead, the taxes GM pays in the foreign countries where it builds new factories can be used to reduce GM's GILTI tax from the tax havens where it owns subsidiaries.\r\nThe 2017 tax act was rushed through Congress on a partisan basis without the public hearings or careful analysis that would have been necessary for real tax reform. As a result, taxpayers and businesses across the country are now asking Congress to fix the many glitches in the law, and more glitches continue to be discovered as the public studies this law.\r\nGM workers in the United States have a right to know whether the federal government is giving GM a tax break for shipping jobs overseas. An informed public debate about international corporate tax policy requires more transparency from multinational corporations like GM.\r\nTherefore, we are calling on you to release your country-by-country financial reports. We need to understand how much GM can reduce its tax rate by expanding operations overseas while it closes factories here in the United States. This requires country-by-country information on GM's profits, taxes, employees, and tangible assets.\r\nLarge corporations like GM are already required to provide country-by-country reports to the IRS, so this request does not require significant additional work besides making those reports public.\r\nFurthermore, we ask that GM cancel its planned stock buybacks. These buybacks make no sense, since GM's stated purpose for closing factories is to free up cash flow for investments in electric and autonomous vehicles. GM has spent $10.6 billion on stock buybacks since 2015, and plans to continue these buybacks until it has spent $14 billion. These buybacks give a windfall to GM's executives and stockholders, while diverting cash flow that GM could use to invest in electric and autonomous vehicles without laying off American workers.\r\nGM will receive a huge tax cut under the 2017 tax act in the coming years, and American taxpayers saved GM in the wake of the Great Recession. We hope you will agree that the American people deserve some basic transparency from GM to understand why it is choosing to close plants in the United States even as it expands production in Mexico.\r\nSincerely,\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/in-the-news/pelosi-privately-disses-trump-s-manhood-after-white-house-meeting", "Pelosi privately disses Trumps manhood after White House meeting", "2018-12-11", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Nancy Pelosi was on fire with her fellow Democrats.\nMinutes after a very public showdown with Donald Trump on Tuesday over his border wall with Mexico, the House minority leader returned to the Capitol and railed against the president in a private meeting with her colleagues.\nTrump must have said the word wall' 30 times, the California Democrat said, according to multiple sources in the room.\nI was trying to be the mom, Pelosi added, but it goes to show you: You get into a tinkle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you.\nAnd then, she went for the most sensitive part of Trump's ego.\nIt's like a manhood thing with him  as if manhood can be associated with him, Pelosi deadpanned. This wall thing.\nCongressional Democrats are feeling smug  and actually a little excited  for the looming shutdown fight with the president after Tuesday's Oval Office meeting.\nThe president may have decided at the last minute to openup the entire negotiation session to the public to throw Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York off their game. But in the end, Democrats feel confident that their leaders came out ahead.\nTrump, Democrats argue, fell into a trap the minute he took ownership of what Pelosi has dubbed the Trump shutdown. Absent a bipartisan agreement on Trump's border wall, about a quarter of the government will run out of money on Dec. 21.\nBut instead of finger-pointing, as Republicans and Democrats usually do during spending standoffs, Trump said he wanted to close the government and said he wouldn't even try to pass the blame.\n\"If we don't get what we want ... I will shut down the government, Trump said in the Oval Office before a room full of reporters and TV cameras. I am proud to shut down the government for border security. ... I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I won't blame you for it.\"\nThe remarks left Republicans on the Hill perplexed. Even some Democrats scratched their heads. But the comments, Democrats say, work to their benefit. Theirleaders look like the only reasonable adults at the table: They were the only side arguing that a government shutdown is a bad thing.\nThe Trump shutdown is something that can be avoided and that the American people do not need at this time of economic uncertainty, and people losing jobs and the market in a mood and the rest, Pelosi told reporters as she was leaving the White House meeting.It is a luxury  the Trump shutdown is a luxury that the American people cannot afford.\nSenate Democrats have reached a deal to devote $1.6 billion to fencing along some parts of the border. But Trump has demanded $5 billion to build his border wall, one of his most prominent 2016 campaign promises.\nThe public sniping between both sides is a sign of just how ugly the next two years are likely to be once Democrats take control of the House. Pelosi's personal jab at the president likely won't go over well with the man who tangled with Sen. Marco Rubio after the Florida Republican called Trump's hands \"small.\"\nAnd if House Democrats wanted to see how the potential next speaker would match up against Trump, they got a pretty good glimpse of the future Tuesday. Indeed, the episode is likely to help Pelosi in her bid to round up the 218 votes needed to be speaker.\nIt was in that vein that Pelosi harped on Trump as she returned to the Hill to join her colleagues at a Democratic Steering Committee meeting Tuesday afternoon. She told the room the party was well positioned to fight in this shutdown showdown  particularly after Trump's comments in the televised negotiation.\nThe press is all there! Chuck is really shouting out. I was trying to be the mom. I can't explain it to you. It was so wild, she said, later adding: But the fact is we did get him to say  to fully own that the shutdown was his  that was an accomplishment.\nAt one point, after reporters and TV cameras left the Oval Office, Trump told Pelosi and Schumer that the new trade agreement he recently struck with Canada and Mexico is going to pay for the wall, Pelosi told lawmakers.\nOn the campaign trail, the president had vowed that Mexico would pay for any southern barrier  not the United States. Pelosi and Schumer reminded him during the rare public meeting Tuesday that he failed to keep this vow.\nIn private, however, Trump suggested both U.S. neighbors would pay for the construction with the new trade agreement.\nThe entire thing baffled Pelosi. It's a cultural phenomenon, Pelosi told her colleagues, that the fate of our country [is] in the hands of this person.\nThe failed negotiations increase the likelihood of a partial shutdown just days before Christmas, according to multiple House aides. And with both sides dug in, a funding lapse could last weeks, possibly forcing Pelosi to deal with reopening the government as her first order of business in the majority.\nSome rank-and-file Democrats fear a shutdown  or even a stopgap funding bill  could hamstring their work in the first few days of the majority as they look to advance their agenda.\nWe want to come out of the starting blocks full steam ahead, said Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.). It's less of a question on the impact on Nancy's leadership  she's a strong leader, and she'll lead us through whatever set of issues we have to deal with  but I think it's a question of whether we get to move out of the starting gate.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/press-releases/president-trump-can-t-use-military-circumvent-congress", "President Trump Cant Use The Military To Circumvent Congress", "2018-12-11", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  Congressman Anthony G. Brown (MD-04) issued the following statement after the President Trump proposed using the Military to build a border wall and claimed the Border is now Secure.\n\nThe President cannot circumvent Congress and use the military to build his absurd, ineffective border wall, and if the border is as secure as the President claims, then he must immediately bring troops deployed to the border home for the holidays, said Congressman Anthony Brown. The President betrays our servicemembers with this dubious deployment. They are duty-bound, but did not enlist to serve as a bargaining chip for the President in the negotiations over his border wall.\n\nPresident Trump continually disrespects members of the military by denigrating veterans, refusing to visit combat zones, degrading troop morale, and needlessly taking servicemembers away from their homes for the holidays. The impact the President's actions have on readiness cannot be overstated, and his misuse of the military and inability to understand his role as Commander-in-chief is extraordinarily unbecoming of the Office of the President.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=256", "President Trump Cant Use The Military To Circumvent Congress", "2018-12-11", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", null, 0, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://cummings.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/cnn-elijah-cummings-key-house-democrat-previews-what-oversight-looks", "CNN: Elijah Cummings, key House Democrat, previews what oversight looks like", "2018-12-11", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Elijah Cummings", "C000984", "cummings.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Rep. Elijah Cummings has a lot of questions and not just about President Donald Trump.\nAfter nearly a decade in the minority on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Cummings finds himself expected to be with a gavel at a time when there are mounting questions about the President of the United States, his Cabinet, associates and business interests.\n\"(Republicans) had basically acted as defense counsel for President Trump and so now we, because of our frustration and being in the minority, and making a lot of requests, we have a whole lot of things, and the question now is how do we prioritize them?\" Cummings said.\nBut, the incoming chairman, a long-time resident and public servant of Baltimore, says if the public expects his committee to be razor-focused on Trump, they may be disappointed.\nFor Democrats hungry for made-for-TV hearings or hastily-delivered subpoenas, it's a target rich environment and Cummings has perhaps broader jurisdiction than any other chairmen to investigate the President. But, Cummings, a 12-term congressman and lawyer who has endured years of heated back-and-forth during GOP-led committee hearings warns he'll be deliberate about the year ahead.\n\"I believe that what we do in this Congress over the next year or so will have impact for the next 50 to 100 years,\" Cummings said. \"We're going to cautiously go about with subpoenas ... there would have to be something that has a compelling interest to the citizens of the United States, and would have to be something that comes under our jurisdiction. So, there's certain criteria that has to be met. I do not expect to be issuing subpoenas -- even the 64 that we've asked for because there are so many things that are backed up. And we'll never get a chance to do everything.\"\nPriorities\nIn the minority and without the power to compel testimony or documents, Cummings had a total of 64 subpoena requests denied by Republicans.\nNow, it's time to decide which ones to reissue.\nAs they prepare for the majority, Cummings says Democratic leaders and fellow chairmen are meeting, but discussions about which hearing to hold first or what investigation to launch first are still underway. Even questions about who will probe which issue are undecided.\n\"We've already begun to sit down to talk and try to hash out exactly who will do what. There's some issues that have dual or even triple jurisdiction. So, maybe some of us will take a piece here, a piece there,\" Cummings said. \"But we will sit down and work that out along with the speaker and the majority leader. And that's how that works. We've already begun that process. I don't expect that to be a major problem because there's so much to look at.\"\nStill, Cummings said he has some key areas of interest for his committee.\nEarly on, Cummings plans to invite Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to testify before his committee about the census andwhose idea it was to include a question about citizenship.\nHe also plans to spend time probing how the President's business interests impact American foreign policy.\nAsked if he believed that Trump was being influenced by foreign governments, Cummings said, \"I don't know. But, all the evidence points to that. And that's one of the things we want to look into.\"\nAnd, while Cummings believes it is too soon to talk about impeachment, he said that if Trump directed Michael Cohen to make payments to womenas the Southern District of New York's prosecution has alleged,it could be an impeachable offense.\n\"I probably would,\" he said when asked if he agreed with incoming Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat,that it come be an impeachable offense. \"But again one of the things that I've been emphasizing is before we even talk about impeachment, let's, No. 1, protect the Mueller investigation because the President has really attacked Mr. Mueller quite a bit and his investigation.\"\nInstead of interfering with special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, Cummings hopes that Democrats put together a commission, one similar to the 9/11 commission, to probe the ways Russians actually interfered in the US election.\n\"We have not done is we have not properly addressed the whole issue of Russian interference and how do we prevent it,\" he said.\nAt this point, Cummings says he's not reached out to the President or White House counsel to gauge how cooperative they plan to be with his inquiries. But, Cummings warns they ought to be prepared to cooperate more than they did under the Republican chairman.\n\"When the Republicans were in control, and even when we did joint requests for documents, the President and his administration gave us nothing. Not even a syllable,\" Cummings said. \"And I think they did that because they knew there were going to be no repercussions. But now this is a new day.\"\nNot just Trump\nCognizant of the risks of overreaching or missing opportunities to do oversight outside the narrow window of the Trump administration, Cummings sees an opportunity for his committee to spend considerable time holding hearings on lowering the cost of prescription drugs and probing the ways, in which, Americans are being disenfranchised at the voting booth.\nHe has warned his fellow chairmen that part of building support from the public for their investigations is to probe things methodically and look at issues that matter to people back home in their districts.\n\"We want the American people to buy into whatever it is that we are trying to present,\" Cummings said. \"So that's why -- I've told them, just go cautiously, search for the facts, search for the truth, and defend the truth. And then present it.\nCummings' tenure comes as there is mounting pressure from the base, but Cummings warns there are some things that are outside the White House that may be even more pressing.\n\"There are a lot of people sadly who cannot afford the medicine that are being prescribed by their doctors,\" Cummings said. \"That's a life and death situation. So that would have some urgency to me.\"\nA battle-tested chairman\nCummings has been on the other side of the fight. From 2011 to 2017, the Maryland congressman proved to be one of President Barack Obama's fiercest defenders after being selected ahead of some of his more senior colleagues to serve as ranking member of Oversight.\nIt was a period marked by glaring partisanship that reached a peak under California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa -- a polarizing chairman committed to marathon hearings and tactics that once included cutting Cummings' mic to stop him from asking a question after a hearing.\nCummings watched as Republicans spent their years in the majority investigatingthe gun-running scandal that became known as \"Fast and Furious,\"the Department of Energy's loans to a bankrupt solar companySolyndraand whetherthe IRS was targeting conservatives, among others.\n\"I think Elijah had been a really effective leader in providing protection for the Obama administration. ... That tested his skills in a way I am sure he never thought he would be tested,\" Democratic Rep. Gerry Connelly, the vice-ranking member of the Oversight Committee, told CNN about the time. \"It was a terrible, terrible and difficult time and Elijah had to manage all of that. He managed to do what frankly Mr. Issa did not, which was maintain his dignity and provide respect even if it was not reciprocated.\"\nCummings also served as the top Democraton the Select Committee on Benghazi,a more than two-year investigation into the September 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi Libya thatleft US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead. It was seen by Democrats as a GOP effort to keep the attack in the spotlight as Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, launched a run for President.\nBut Cummings said the experiences have prepared him for his job in charge. Next year he will serve alongside Rep. Jim Jordan, a conservative who is close to the President and has gained a reputation as a fierce defender of the administration.\n\"I'm going to hope that we will reclaim civility, because I don't see how you can have any effective and efficient efforts if you don't have civility,\" Cummings said. \"I am going to assume on the positive, and I'm looking forward to it to be frank with you. And so a lot of people have asked me, do you like him? And I like him. I think he's a nice guy, and we'll work through it.\"\nThis story has been updated to include additional comment from Rep. Elijah Cummings' interview with CNN.\nCNN's Greg Wallace and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://harris.house.gov/media/press-releases/president-trump-signs-harris-bill-law-rename-postal-office-honoring-local", "President Trump Signs Harris Bill into Law to Rename Postal Office Honoring Local Fallen Hero", "2018-12-11", "2018", "2018-12", "Republican", "House", "MD", "Andy Harris", "H001052", "harris.house.gov", "harris", "https://harris.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, DC: President Trump signed H.R. 4913 to rename a United States Postal facility in honor of the deceased Sgt. Maj. Wardell B. Turner. Congressman Andy Harris (MD-01) authored H.R. 4913, which designates the United States Postal facility located at 816 East Salisbury Parkway in Salisbury, Maryland, as the \u2018\u2018Sgt. Maj. Wardell B. Turner Post Office Building.\"\n\nCongressman Harris made the following statement about the postal office's renaming:\n\n\"I am proud to honor Army Sgt. Maj. Wardell Turner by renaming the Postal Office in Salisbury. President Trump and I recognize the honor and sacrifice Sgt. Maj. Turner made for his country. As a veteran, I admire Sgt. Maj. Turner greatly, and his life was a courageous example of strength, dignity, and patriotism. In his passing we will remember him as well as the legacy he left behind with his five children, Shayla, Quinton, Devin, Wardell II, Xavier, several grandchildren, and his devoted wife, Katherine.\"", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:11:43Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/republicans-are-rigging-democracy-we-will-fix-it-with-or-without-them", "Republicans Are Rigging Democracy. We Will Fix It, With or Without Them", "2018-12-11", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The first legislation that the new Democratic House majority will pass next year in the 116th Congress is a sweeping package of changes to our campaign finance, ethicsand voting laws. We will shine a light on the dark money in our politics, and empower small donors to own elections and drive the agenda in Washington. We will demand that public servants work for the public interest, not the special interest. We will make it easier, not harder, to vote. Together, these bold reforms will restore and protect the voice of the American people in our democracy....Democrats should not have to pass these reforms alone.... PresidentsRichard Nixon,Gerald Ford,Ronald Reagan,George H.W. BushandGeorge W. Bushall renewed and strengthened the Voting Rights Act. The late Republican Sen.John McCain joined with progressive Sen.Russ Feingold to pass theBipartisan Campaign Reform Act the most significant update of campaign finance laws since Watergate. In response to the lobbying scandals of the mid-2000s, 411 bipartisan members of the House and 83 bipartisan senatorspassed an ethics reform billthat President George W. Bush signed into law.... Democrats in the House are ready to pass bold reforms. We sincerely hope that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will come to the table tohelp us restore power to the American people. But if the Republican-led Senate and the Republican president choose not to help fix our democracy, we will look to the American people to replace them with Democrats who will.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-lauds-passage-of-farm-bill-supporting-maryland-farmers", "Cardin Lauds Passage of Farm Bill Supporting Maryland Farmers", "2018-12-11", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 11, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin Lauds Passage of Farm Bill Supporting Maryland Farmers \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON  U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, praised the overwhelmingly bipartisan 87-13 approval Tuesday of the Conference Report for the Farm Bill. The key conservation title in the amended H.R. 2 triples the amount of funding for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) while streamlining program participation requirements with a focus on increasing producer access, improving conservation outcomes, and simplifying procedures. The Maryland Farm Bureau fully supports the bill.\r\nSenator Cardin: The 2018 Farm Bill is a win for Maryland farmers and the entire state. Agriculture is central to Maryland's economy and way of life for so many Marylanders. It's why I supported final passage of the Farm Bill today that supports Maryland farmers and strengthens the federal commitment to conservation programs through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) with a minimum of $300 million per year to help farmers do their part to preserve a healthy Chesapeake Bay and support other conservation programs. A healthy Bay is good for our farmland and good for our regional economy. Federal and regional partnerships have been crucial to the progress we have made in improving the health of the Chesapeake Bay.\r\nIn addition to protecting the RCPP, Senator Cardin praised the bipartisan conferees for keeping the legislation primarily focused on agriculture and farmers without the inclusion of damaging anti-environmental policy riders favored by the House of Representatives. As predicted in a letter Senator Cardin led with nearly 40 senators, [a]voiding controversial provisions that erode landmark environmental laws could pave the way to an on-time and widely supported reauthorization of the Farm Bill.\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-joins-senators-urging-faa-to-implement-and-improve-airport-contract-tower-program", "Van Hollen Joins Senators Urging FAA to Implement and Improve Airport Contract Tower Program", "2018-12-11", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 11, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen Joins Senators Urging FAA to Implement and Improve Airport Contract Tower Program \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tU.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) signed a bipartisan letter of 35 Senators urging the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to implement a provision in this year's FAA spending bill allowing airports that utilize the contract tower program to become eligible for Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants from the small airport fund. This provision, which was introduced and included in the recent FAA Reauthorization law will enhance air traffic safety at small, rural airports such as Boulder City Airport in Nevada and Manhattan Regional Airport in Kansas.\r\nNot only do these contract towers provide an important safety service, but they do it in a very cost-effective manner, the senators wrote.It is Congress's clear intent that tower construction, improvement, and related equipment should be given priority when deciding which projects should receive grants from the small airport fund.\r\nIn addition to Senator Van Hollen, the letter was signed by Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Jerry Moran(R-Kan.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Doug Jones (R-Ala.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).\r\n\r\nThe full letter can be found HEREand below:\r\nDear Acting Administrator Elwell:\r\nAs you begin implementing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2018, we would like to draw your attention to section 152 of that Act. Section 152 authorizes the FAA to make grants from the small airport fund to an airport participating in the contract tower program for the purpose of constructing or improving its air traffic control tower and for the acquisition and installation of related equipment.\r\nThe contract tower program has been in place for over 30 years. Currently, there are 256 airports in 46 states that participate in this program and it consistently receives high marks for customer service from aviation users (pilots, airlines, FBOs, flight schools, and corporate flight departments). Without it, people living and traveling to small communities and rural areas would be without the important safety benefits that air traffic control provides.\r\nNot only do contract towers provide an important safety service, they do it in a cost-effective manner. This is demonstrated by the fact that contract towers handle approximately 29 percent of all U.S. air traffic control tower operations, but account for just 11 percent of FAA's overall budget allotted to such operations. This means that the contract tower program saves the FAA and taxpayers approximately $200 million per year and $2 billion over a decade.\r\nIn addition to the safety and financial benefits, the contract tower program plays a key role in connecting rural communities to the national air transportation system, helping airports retain and develop commercial air service, and promoting economic development and job creation. It also provides significant support for military readiness and training as well as for disaster relief, homeland security, and law enforcement operations.\r\nFor all these reasons, the contract tower program enjoys widespread support in the Congress. That is why Congress included section 152, as well as other provisions to boost the contract tower program, in the FAA Reauthorization Act. It is important to note that this provision authorizing small airport funds for tower construction and improvement was placed in subsection (d) of section 47116 of the United States Code. Subsection (d) is entitled Priority Consideration for Certain Projects. This provision could have been inserted in section 47124, but was placed in subsection 47116(d) precisely because Congress desired air traffic control tower construction and improvement projects to receive priority consideration for grants from the small airport fund. It is Congress's clear intent that tower construction, improvement, and related equipment should be given priority consideration when determining which projects should receive grants from the small airport fund. Priority consideration for these projects is fully justified in light of the safety, financial, and other benefits that these towers provide to small airports and rural areas.\r\nWe expect FAA to follow congressional intent in implementing this important provision that will enhance air traffic safety at smaller and rural airports throughout the country, including utilizing the benefit/cost ratios for new airport applicants/candidates that FAA submitted to Congress in April, 2018.\r\nAdditionally, we request that you explain to how the FAA will revise its National Priority Ranking and related order to ensure that funding for air traffic control tower construction, improvements, and related equipment receive the priority intended in the law. We also ask that, after the end of this fiscal year, you provide us with a list of the airports that requested money from the small airport fund for tower construction, improvement, or related equipment, a list of those airports that received such funds for that purpose, and a statement explaining why airports did not receive such funding even though it was requested.\r\nWe appreciate your attention to this timely matter and look forward to continuing to work with you in a constructive manner on this important issue.\r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-secures-millions-in-mandatory-funding-to-help-chesapeake-bay-in-new-farm-bill", "Van Hollen Secures Millions in Mandatory Funding to Help Chesapeake Bay in New Farm Bill", "2018-12-11", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 11, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen Secures Millions in Mandatory Funding to Help Chesapeake Bay in New Farm Bill \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tToday, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced that the new Farm Bill contains major provisions from his Chesapeake Bay Farm Bill Enhancements Act, including:\r\n \r\n$300 million in mandatory funding for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), the successor to Senator Van Hollen's 2008 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative that provides funding to conservation partners and agricultural producers to work together to reduce pollution and improve water quality\r\nA higher percentage of RCPP funding for Critical Conservation Areas like the Bay  an increase from 35 percent to 50 percent\r\nImportant reforms and technical assistance for partners\r\n \r\n\r\nThe Chesapeake Bay isn't just a national treasure  it is vital to Maryland jobs and our economy, said Senator Van Hollen. I introduced the Chesapeake Bay Farm Bill Enhancements Act to boost restoration efforts and improve the health of the Bay. I want to thank Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow for working with me to include much of the legislation in this year's Farm Bill. This new investment will help ensure that our Bay economy continues to thrive and that Marylanders and tourists can enjoy this treasure for generations to come.\r\nIn the 2008 Farm Bill, Congress authorized the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative to provide assistance to agricultural producers to minimize excess nutrients and sediments in order to restore, preserve, and protect the Chesapeake Bay. In 2014, the RCPP was created in order to prioritize conservation resources that were previously handled by separate conservation programs such as the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative. Unfortunately, under the current RCPP in 2014, the Chesapeake Bay has received significantly less funding  averaging around $13 million annually. Under this new legislation, $50 million more will be available for Maryland and other states who choose to participate in this program.\r\n\r\n###\r\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://ruppersberger.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/ruppersberger-announces-stivers-as-new-co-chair-of-bipartisan-municipal", "Ruppersberger Announces Stivers as New Co-Chair of Bipartisan Municipal Finance Caucus", "2018-12-10", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger", "R000576", "ruppersberger.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(Washington, DC)  Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02) today announced that Congressman Steve Stivers of Ohio will serve as the Republican co-chair of the bipartisan House Municipal Finance Caucus in the next Congress. Stivers, who serves on the House Financial Services Committee, has been a licensed securities trader and bank executive and has been active on municipal policy throughout his time in office.\nMunicipal bonds are the single most important tool in the country for financing new schools, hospitals, roads, fire stations and more, Congressman Ruppersberger said. Steve has already championed efforts to refine municipal advisor regulations and I look forward to working with him to protect common sense, job-creating tools that our communities need.\nThe Municipal Finance Caucus advocates for states and local communities across the country, ensuring they have access to critical financing to build hospitals, schools, roads, and other important projects, Congressman Stivers said. I am proud to join Congressman Ruppersberger to lead this Caucus, and look forward to working to advance municipal finance policy in the 116th Congress.\nCongressman Ruppersberger founded the Municipal Finance Caucus with out-going co-chair Congressman Randy Hultgren of Illinois in 2016 as a forum to discuss the opportunities and challenges for states and local governments to independently fund initiatives that strengthen their communities, and to advocate for bipartisan policies that enhance their access to capital markets. Key issues that merit strong consideration include: protecting the tax exempt status of municipal debt, understanding how financial regulations treat such debt, and ensuring there is a robust market for municipal securities.\nBoth Congressmen Ruppersberger and Stivers thanked Hultgren for his leadership.\nCongressman Hultgren's experience at the federal, state and local levels proved invaluable in our efforts to shine a light on municipal issues in Congress, they said.\nThe new leadership team was applauded by stakeholder groups including the State Treasurer's Association and Municipal Bonds for America.\n\"The National Association of State Treasurers would like to congratulate Rep. Steve Stivers on his new position as the incoming Republican co-chair of the bipartisan Municipal Finance Caucus. As State Treasurers, we rely on strong partnerships with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle in all levels of government to secure low-cost funding for critical public infrastructure projects, said Beth Pearce, NAST President and Vermont State Treasurer.\nThe Municipal Finance Caucus has established a strong alliance unified by the common purpose of ensuring the future of municipal bonds as a vital resource to support enhancements to state and local infrastructure. NAST looks forward to continuing our work with the Caucus and co-Chairs Rep. Steve Stivers and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger to expand the use of tax-exempt debt to meet future infrastructure financing thresholds, added David Damschen, incoming NAST President and Utah State Treasurer.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/no-tea-party-here-house-democrats-cant-wait-to-govern", "No Tea Party Here: House Democrats Can't Wait to Govern", "2018-12-10", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "As House control is about to switch, it serves as a reminder about Democrats: They like government. And governing....Democrats say the goal is not necessarily a return to big government or to quickly start impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump  but to reassert Congress' ability to govern, which they say diminished under Republicans....We really do want to restore the Democracy, make it work for people, said Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., who is leading the effort on H.R. 1.... A lot of the tea party people arrived in Washington a few years ago with this mission of tearing government down, Sarbanes told AP in an interview. You have Democrats arriving in this class who very much want to fix it, repair it, strengthen it, restore it.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-joins-senate-resolution-recognizing-the-need-to-improve-disability-access-and-infrastructure-in-federally-funded-buildings", "Van Hollen Joins Senate Resolution Recognizing the Need to Improve Disability Access & Infrastructure in Federally-Funded Buildings", "2018-12-10", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 10, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen Joins Senate Resolution Recognizing the Need to Improve Disability Access & Infrastructure in Federally-Funded Buildings \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t13 Democratic senators join resolution reaffirming support for ensuring people with disabilities have equal access to federal buildings & government services\r\nToday, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) joined 13 Democratic colleagues to introduce a Senate resolution on the need for improvements in disability access and infrastructure in federally funded buildings. The resolution also reaffirms support for existing laws that work to ensure equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities, including the Americans with Disabilities Act that former President George Herbert Walker Bush signed into law.\r\nThe resolution was sponsored by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Chris Coons (D-DE), Jack Reed (D-RI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Patty Murray (D-WA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Marie Cantwell (D-WA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Sheldon Brown (D-OH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI).\r\nThe full resolution can be found here.\r\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/media/press-releases/maryland-congressional-delegation-announces-65-million-federal-funding-port", "Maryland Congressional Delegation Announces $6.5 Million in Federal Funding for Port of Baltimore", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON  U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, John P. Sarbanes, Andy P. Harris, M.D., John K. Delaney, Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin announced Thursday that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $6,554,575 in federal funding for the Maryland Port Authority. The grant will be used to construct a second berth capable of serving ultra large container ships and cargo, as part of the Port of Baltimore's Seagirt Marine Terminal modernization project. The expanded wharf will dramatically increase Baltimore's shipping and trade capacity, bringing added economic opportunities and jobs to Maryland.\n\nThese federal funds are an investment in Maryland and all our working families, who deserve a stable job market and a healthy local economy. This grant will keep the Port of Baltimore competitive among deep-berth ports and will provide continuing economic dividends for Baltimore's workforce and across the state. We appreciate Secretary Chao working with us on this important issue -- Team Maryland stands united to use every opportunity to ensure these kind of investments in Maryland's economy continue through the next Congress, the lawmakers said.\n\nThe funds come from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. In July, the full delegation sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao requesting that the Maryland Port Authority be fully considered for a grant, writing: Baltimore's multimodal port supports nearly 34,000 jobs, produces $2.9 billion in personal income, and generates $2.2 billion in business revenue [] This project would significantly benefit the nation, mid-Atlantic region, and the State of Maryland.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://anthonybrown.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=255", "Maryland Congressional Delegation Announces $6.5 Million in Federal Funding for Port of Baltimore", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Anthony Brown", "B001304", "anthonybrown.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", null, 0, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://raskin.house.gov/media/press-releases/maryland-congressional-delegation-announces-65-million-federal-funding-port", "Maryland Congressional Delegation Announces $6.5 Million in Federal Funding for Port of Baltimore", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Jamie Raskin", "R000606", "raskin.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(WASHINGTON, D.C.)  U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, John P. Sarbanes, Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin, have announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $6,554,575 in federal funding for the Maryland Port Authority. The grant will be used to construct a second berth capable of serving ultra large container ships and cargo, as part of the Port of Baltimore's Seagirt Marine Terminal modernization project. The expanded wharf will dramatically increase Baltimore's shipping and trade capacity, bringing added economic opportunities and jobs to Maryland.\nThese federal funds are an investment in Maryland and all our working families, who deserve a stable job market and a healthy local economy. This grant will keep the Port of Baltimore competitive among deep-berth ports and will provide continuing economic dividends for Baltimore's workforce and across the state. We appreciate Secretary Chao working with us on this important issue -- Team Maryland stands united to use every opportunity to ensure these kind of investments in Maryland's economy continue through the next Congress, the lawmakers said.\nThe funds come from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. In July, the full delegation sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao requesting that the Maryland Port Authority be fully considered for a grant, writing: Baltimore's multimodal port supports nearly 34,000 jobs, produces $2.9 billion in personal income, and generates $2.2 billion in business revenue [] This project would significantly benefit the nation, mid-Atlantic region, and the State of Maryland.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://raskin.house.gov/media/press-releases/maryland-congressional-delegation-announces-65-million-federal-funding-port-0", "MARYLAND CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION ANNOUNCES $6.5 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR PORT OF BALTIMORE", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Jamie Raskin", "R000606", "raskin.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, John P. Sarbanes, Andy P. Harris, M.D., John K. Delaney, Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin have announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $6,554,575 in federal funding for the Maryland Port Authority. The grant will be used to construct a second berth capable of serving ultra large container ships and cargo, as part of the Port of Baltimore's Seagirt Marine Terminal modernization project. The expanded wharf will dramatically increase Baltimore's shipping and trade capacity, bringing added economic opportunities and jobs to Maryland.\nThese federal funds are an investment in Maryland and all our working families, who deserve a stable job market and a healthy local economy. This grant will keep the Port of Baltimore competitive among deep-berth ports and will provide continuing economic dividends for Baltimore's workforce and across the state. We appreciate Secretary Chao working with us on this important issue -- Team Maryland stands united to use every opportunity to ensure these kind of investments in Maryland's economy continue through the next Congress, the lawmakers said.\nThe funds come from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. In July, the full delegationsent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chaorequesting that the Maryland Port Authority be fully considered for a grant, writing: Baltimore's multimodal port supports nearly 34,000 jobs, produces $2.9 billion in personal income, and generates $2.2 billion in business revenue [] This project would significantly benefit the nation, mid-Atlantic region, and the State of Maryland.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://ruppersberger.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/maryland-congressional-delegation-announces-65-million-in-federal-funding", "Maryland Congressional Delegation Announces $6.5 Million in Federal Funding for Port of Baltimore", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger", "R000576", "ruppersberger.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON  U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, John P. Sarbanes, Andy P. Harris, M.D., John K. Delaney, Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin have announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $6,554,575 in federal funding for the Maryland Port Authority. The grant will be used to construct a second berth capable of serving ultra large container ships and cargo, as part of the Port of Baltimore's Seagirt Marine Terminal modernization project. The expanded wharf will dramatically increase Baltimore's shipping and trade capacity, bringing added economic opportunities and jobs to Maryland.\nThese federal funds are an investment in Maryland and all our working families, who deserve a stable job market and a healthy local economy. This grant will keep the Port of Baltimore competitive among deep-berth ports and will provide continuing economic dividends for Baltimore's workforce and across the state. We appreciate Secretary Chao working with us on this important issue -- Team Maryland stands united to use every opportunity to ensure these kind of investments in Maryland's economy continue through the next Congress, the lawmakers said.\nThe funds come from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. In July, the full delegation sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao requesting that the Maryland Port Authority be fully considered for a grant, writing: Baltimore's multimodal port supports nearly 34,000 jobs, produces $2.9 billion in personal income, and generates $2.2 billion in business revenue [] This project would significantly benefit the nation, mid-Atlantic region, and the State of Maryland.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://ruppersberger.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/ruppersberger-announces-winners-of-2018-high-school-app-challenge", "Ruppersberger Announces Winners of 2018 High School App Challenge", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger", "R000576", "ruppersberger.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(Washington, D.C.)  Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger today announced that a team of seniors from Eastern Tech High School in Essex has won the fifth-annual high school App Challenge. The academic competition, which is open to all high school students in Maryland's Second Congressional District, requires students to create an original software application for mobile, tablet or other device on a platform of their choice.\nThe winners  Jeffrey Cai, Paulo Manalo, Samuel Kabui, and Asenath Yaptangco  created a mobile game called Space Hops that requires players to navigate a rocket that has run out of fuel through space, avoiding asteroids. Over the course of several months, the students learned computer coding, designed graphics, developed the game and created a marketing and advertising plan. Contest participants were required to submit a video demonstrating and explaining their app and what they learned through the competition process. You can see the winning team's video here.\nThe App Challenge was created because our country has been falling behind on the STEM and computer-based skills essential for economic growth and innovation, Congressman Ruppersberger said. We need exceptional students like Jeffrey, Paulo, Samuel and Asenath if we want to stay competitive  not to mention the valuable skills they've learned through this contest will prepare them for high-paying, high-demand jobs. I congratulate each of them, and all of this year's participants, on a job well done.\nBy some estimates, the U.S. may be short by as many as 1 million programmers by 2020. The Congressional App Challenge is the most prestigious prize in student computer science. Participation in the challenge has grown exponentially since it was first established by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014, with more than 1,700 submissions received in 2017. Winners from across the country are invited to showcase their apps to Members of Congress and the tech community at #HouseOfCode, a reception on Capitol Hill held each spring. Their work is eligible to be featured for one year on permanent display in the U.S. Capitol Building and on the House.gov website. Each winning student also receives $250 in Amazon Web Service credits.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/maryland-politicians-meet-with-minority-business-leaders-over-breakfast", "Maryland Politicians Meet with Minority Business Leaders Over Breakfast", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The Minority Legislative Breakfast brought together politicians throughout Maryland to hear the legislative priorities of minority business leaders. Indeed, the African American Chamber of Commerce of Montgomery County, the Asian American Political Alliance, and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Montgomery County hosted this event, which featured speechesfrom federal, state, and county level politicians....Additionally, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D), Rep. John Sarbanes, State Sen. Craig Zucker, and State Del. Marc Korman spoke at the event.... All politicians noted that Montgomery County has pushed Maryland forward because of its diverse community. But, they still agree more work needs to be done in regard to healthcare, immigration, gun control, and voting rights.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/sarbanes-maryland-congressional-delegation-secure-65-million-grant-for", "Sarbanes, Maryland Congressional Delegation Secure $6.5 Million Grant for Port of Baltimore", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) today joined U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, Andy P. Harris, M.D., John K. Delaney, Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin in announcing that the Port of Baltimore will receive a $6,554,575 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to improve Baltimore's shipping capacity.\nThe federal funding will help the Maryland Port Authority construct a second berth capable of serving ultra large container ships and cargo, as part of the Port of Baltimore's Seagirt Marine Terminal modernization project. The expanded wharf will dramatically increase Baltimore's shipping volume and bring added economic opportunities and jobs to Maryland.\nThis new infusion of federal grant funding for the Port of Baltimore will improve the long-term health of Baltimore's economy and increase job opportunities for hardworking Marylanders, said Congressman Sarbanes. By continuing to invest in the Port of Baltimore, we can ensure that it remains a competitive economic engine for our state, paying dividends for Baltimore's workforce and resulting in positive commercial impacts across Maryland.\nGrant funding comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. In July, the Maryland Congressional Delegation sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao requesting that the Maryland Port Authority be fully considered for a grant.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-democratic-senators-raise-alarm-over-human-rights-in-cameroon", "Cardin, Democratic Senators Raise Alarm Over Human Rights in Cameroon", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 07, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin, Democratic Senators Raise Alarm Over Human Rights in Cameroon \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON  U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raising deep concerns about violations of human rights, the breakdown in the rule of law, and elections fraud in Cameroon. In addition to Senator Cardin, the letter was also signed by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).\r\nThe Senators write, Cameroon has become an increasingly important regional counterterrorism partner and the United States has increased its commitment of security assistance in recent years. However, rising tensions in the Anglophone North West and South West regions, coupled with credible reports of human rights abuses by the Cameroonian armed forces in those regions and the Far North, where Boko Haram is active, have changed the tone of discussions regarding U.S. security assistance.\r\nThey continue, Reports indicate that government forces are responsible for extrajudicial killings, the burning of villages, torture, and other human rights abuses, including a much-publicized video reportedly showing soldiers executing two women, a child, and a baby they accused of being members of Boko Haram. The violent death of American missionary Charles Wesco underscores the level of bloodshed engulfing the Anglophone areas of the country. United Nations figures indicate that more than 21,000 Cameroonians have fled to neighboring countries and 160,000 are internally displaced.\r\nThe Senators close the letter urging, The U.S. government should make clear to the government of Cameroon that, while we remain dedicated to the fight against Boko Haram, our commitment to human rights and the rule of law is steadfast and we expect our regional partners to share that commitment. We must also emphasize the critical importance of a political solution to the crisis in the Anglophone regions, work with civil society groups to ensure that elections are free, open, and transparent, and offer our assistance as mediators. The United States should impose sanctions on individuals found to have committed gross violations of human rights, consistent with the law. In addition, we will work with our colleagues in the Senate to assess whether additional conditions should be imposed on security assistance to Cameroon.\r\nThe full text of the letter can be found here and below.\r\n\r\nDear Secretary Pompeo:\r\nWe are writing in response to concerns that have been raised about the recent elections in Cameroon, the ongoing crisis in the Anglophone regions of the country, and human rights abuses related to the crisis and the campaign against Boko Haram.\r\nCameroon has become an increasingly important regional counterterrorism partner and the United States has increased its commitment of security assistance in recent years. However, rising tensions in the Anglophone North West and South West regions, coupled with credible reports of human rights abuses by the Cameroonian armed forces in those regions and the Far North, where Boko Haram is active, have changed the tone of discussions regarding U.S. security assistance.\r\nReports indicate that government forces are responsible for extrajudicial killings, the burning of villages, torture, and other human rights abuses, including a much-publicized video reportedly showing soldiers executing two women, a child, and a baby they accused of being members of Boko Haram. The violent death of American missionary Charles Wesco underscores the level of bloodshed engulfing the Anglophone areas of the country. United Nations figures indicate that more than 21,000 Cameroonians have fled to neighboring countries and 160,000 are internally displaced.\r\nIn addition, recent elections were marred by irregularities and intimidation. Voter turnout in the Anglophone regions was reportedly marked by apathy, and in some regions, outright fear, and driven to unprecedented lows by the military's campaign against Anglophone separatists, which has often veered into human rights abuses against civilians. The results of the election remain heavily disputed, and multiple presidential candidates have petitioned for the results to be voided, citing allegations of ballot stuffing and intimidation. The program director for Central Africa at the International Crisis Group told Foreign Policy that [t]here is an emerging civil war. Anglophones feel completely disenfranchised, but they didn't need the elections to tell them that.\r\nThe U.S. government should make clear to the government of Cameroon that, while we remain dedicated to the fight against Boko Haram, our commitment to human rights and the rule of law is steadfast and we expect our regional partners to share that commitment. We must also emphasize the critical importance of a political solution to the crisis in the Anglophone regions, support civil society groups to ensure that elections are free, credible, and transparent, and offer our assistance as mediators. The United States should impose sanctions on individuals found to have committed gross violations of human rights, consistent with the law. In addition, we will work with our colleagues in the Senate to assess whether additional conditions should be imposed on security assistance to Cameroon.\r\nWe look forward to working with you on this critical issue.\r\nSincerely,\r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/maryland-congressional-delegation-announces-65-million-in-federal-funding-for-port-of-baltimore", "Maryland Congressional Delegation Announces $6.5 Million in Federal Funding for Port of Baltimore", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 07, 2018\n\t\t\t Maryland Congressional Delegation Announces $6.5 Million in Federal Funding for Port of Baltimore \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON  U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, John P. Sarbanes, Andy P. Harris, M.D., John K. Delaney, Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin have announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $6,554,575 in federal funding for the Maryland Port Authority. The grant will be used to construct a second berth capable of serving ultra large container ships and cargo, as part of the Port of Baltimore's Seagirt Marine Terminal modernization project. The expanded wharf will dramatically increase Baltimore's shipping and trade capacity, bringing added economic opportunities and jobs to Maryland.\r\nThese federal funds are an investment in Maryland and all our working families, who deserve a stable job market and a healthy local economy. This grant will keep the Port of Baltimore competitive among deep-berth ports and will provide continuing economic dividends for Baltimore's workforce and across the state. We appreciate Secretary Chao working with us on this important issue -- Team Maryland stands united to use every opportunity to ensure these kind of investments in Maryland's economy continue through the next Congress, the lawmakers said.\r\nThe funds come from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. In July, the full delegation sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao requesting that the Maryland Port Authority be fully considered for a grant, writing: Baltimore's multimodal port supports nearly 34,000 jobs, produces $2.9 billion in personal income, and generates $2.2 billion in business revenue [] This project would significantly benefit the nation, mid-Atlantic region, and the State of Maryland.\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/maryland-congressional-delegation-announces-65-million-in-federal-funding-for-port-of-baltimore", "Maryland Congressional Delegation Announces $6.5 Million in Federal Funding for Port of Baltimore", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 07, 2018\n\t\t\t Maryland Congressional Delegation Announces $6.5 Million in Federal Funding for Port of Baltimore \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tU.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, along with Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, John P. Sarbanes, Andy P. Harris, M.D., John K. Delaney, Anthony G. Brown and Jamie B. Raskin have announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $6,554,575 in federal funding for the Maryland Port Authority. The grant will be used to construct a second berth capable of serving ultra large container ships and cargo, as part of the Port of Baltimore's Seagirt Marine Terminal modernization project. The expanded wharf will dramatically increase Baltimore's shipping and trade capacity, bringing added economic opportunities and jobs to Maryland.\r\nThese federal funds are an investment in Maryland and all our working families, who deserve a stable job market and a healthy local economy. This grant will keep the Port of Baltimore competitive among deep-berth ports and will provide continuing economic dividends for Baltimore's workforce and across the state. We appreciate Secretary Chao working with us on this important issue -- Team Maryland stands united to use every opportunity to ensure these kind of investments in Maryland's economy continue through the next Congress, the lawmakers said.\r\nThe funds come from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. In July, the full delegation sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao requesting that the Maryland Port Authority be fully considered for a grant, writing: Baltimore's multimodal port supports nearly 34,000 jobs, produces $2.9 billion in personal income, and generates $2.2 billion in business revenue [] This project would significantly benefit the nation, mid-Atlantic region, and the State of Maryland.\r\n###\r\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/troops-at-southern-us-border-van-hollen-and-colleagues-slam-trump-administrations-decision-to-extend-deployment-through-january-urge-secretary-mattis-to-reverse-course-immediately", "TROOPS AT SOUTHERN U.S. BORDER: Van Hollen and Colleagues Slam Trump Administrations Decision to Extend Deployment Through January, Urge Secretary Mattis to Reverse Course Immediately", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 07, 2018\n\t\t\t TROOPS AT SOUTHERN U.S. BORDER: Van Hollen and Colleagues Slam Trump Administration's Decision to Extend Deployment Through January, Urge Secretary Mattis to Reverse Course Immediately \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tSenators: Trump administration's lack of transparency on troop deployment should worry all those who are invested in the readiness of our military, its professional use, and the need to keep a bright-line distinction between military and law enforcement\r\nToday, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and a group of senators sent a letter to Department of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, urging the Department to reconsider its decision to extend the deployment of active duty servicemembers currently stationed at the U.S. southern border. Joined by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Edward Markey (D-MA), and Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the letter follows Senators Murray and Schatz's previous request to Secretary Mattis to end the deployment of U.S. troops at the border and allow them to return to their home base for the holidays, as the Trump administration has thus far failed to establish that asylum seekers traveling to the southern U.S. border pose a threat to national security. In their letter, the senators raised several questions and concerns regarding the deployment that the White House still has not answered, and urged the Secretaryabsent justification and substantial transparencyto deny any extension of orders for troops on the southern U.S. border.\r\nMany of us have previously detailed our concern with this deployment and use of active duty forces. The administration's rationale for deploying troops was to evoke fear and xenophobia and does not serve a genuine national security purpose. Continuing to rely on active duty troops militarizes the border and normalizes the deployment of active duty forces domestically  a dangerous precedent for any democracy, wrote the senators in the letter.\r\nRead the full letter below, or click HERE for the PDF.\r\n\r\nDecember 7, 2018\r\n The Honorable James Mattis  Secretary of Defense  1000 Defense Pentagon  Washington, DC 20301-1000  Dear Secretary Mattis: \r\nWe are writing to express deep concern over the extended deployment of active duty military to the U.S. southern border, and strongly urge you to reconsider your approval to extend the orders. On November 30, the Department of Homeland Security sent a request to extend the deployment of 4,000 of the currently 5,900 deployed active duty troops for an additional 45 days through January 31, 2019. On December 4, the Defense Department confirmed it would support the request. As a country, we call on our troops frequently to sacrifice in defense of our freedoms, which they do willingly and selflessly. As you know better than most, the decision to deploy the military comes with the responsibility to be judicious and ethical when we make those requests. In this case the White House's decision does not live up to that obligation and seems designed to stoke fear about those seeking asylum in our country.\r\nMany of us have previously detailed our concern with this deployment and use of active duty forces. The administration's rationale for deploying troops was to evoke fear and xenophobia and does not serve a genuine national security purpose. Continuing to rely on active duty troops militarizes the border and normalizes the deployment of active duty forces domestically  a dangerous precedent for any democracy.\r\nWe would like to raise three specific aspects of the deployment that should worry all those who are invested in the readiness of our military, its professional use, and the need to keep a bright-line distinction between military and law enforcement.\r\nFirst, we have seen no justification for the extension of the orders. The Trump administration has presented no evidence to suggest asylum seekers pose a national security threat to the nation. In fact, the Department's own assessment does not show a high risk of violence. There are other steps that can be taken to support U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent processing of asylum seekers in an orderly and lawful way that does not involve active duty servicemembers.\r\nThe Department has yet to detail a desired end-state and specify what conditions will allow these troops to return home. The majority of the points asked to be hardened have been completed; there has not been a request to leave concertina wire in place, suggesting that these obstacles were never operationally necessary; and the troops still lack authorities to perform the duties most needed by CBP, which is expedited processing at the border. We are also concerned that a plan for rotating forces, while an improvement for the families and individuals who will not have to remain at the border more than 45 days, would allow for the deployments to continue indefinitely by neutralizing concerns over individual deployment lengths. We request a clear end-state that can be met and will ensure servicemembers return home.\r\nSecond, we remain concerned with the expansion of rules of use of force. On November 21, 2018, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly signed a cabinet order allowing the Department of Defense to expand its rules for use of force beyond what, reportedly, you or Department of Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen thought was necessary or appropriate. The fact that the rules were expanded at the insistence of political figures in the White House, rather than based on the professional military judgment of Department leaders, is inappropriate and unacceptable.\r\nWithout a basis in the tactical situation and coming dangerously close to violating the Posse Comitatus Act, authorizing use of lethal force to protect CBP agents, crowd control, temporary detention and cursory search, this expansion will inevitably force soldiers and Marines into compromised situations. As with the extension, there has been no justification supported by evidence or intelligence for why these authorities have been expanded. Media reports suggest these authorities were part of the initial DHS request for assistance in October and were rejected by your office then. We are deeply concerned that a legitimate or substantiated rationale has not been provided for the expansion, especially in conjunction with the extension of the deployment. We request a detailed justification for the expansion of rules of use of force.\r\nFinally, we still have not received an adequate answer to justify the use of active duty forces. There are currently approximately 2,100 National Guard troops serving on the border in California, Arizona, and Texas with 4,000 authorized. There has been no justification provided by either the Departments of Defense or Homeland Security as to why active duty troops were deployed. Further, if hardening points along the border is an immediate concern worthy of active duty support, it is unclear why the National Guard units already there have not been asked to support these tasks when they possess the capacity to do so. The lack of justification for the use of Title 10 instead of Title 32 remains concerning and suggests, again, this deployment is less about the mission than it is about the optics of crisis the presence of active duty forces creates.\r\nOur concern remains that this politically motivated mission is inappropriate and must be ended. It has the potential to normalize and create ambiguity surrounding the deployment of active duty forces domestically, something we believe should be refused in all but the most necessary situations of existential threat; it will blur the line between military and law enforcement duties; and it risks breaking the trust of those soldiers and Marines whose professionalism is being manipulated for domestic political purposes inevitably putting them in situations where any decision is legally or morally fraught.\r\nAbsent justification and substantial transparency, the extension of orders must be rescinded.\r\nWe appreciate your prompt attention to our letter and look forward to your response not later than December 20, 2018.\r\n\r\nSincerely,\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-democratic-senators-raise-alarm-over-human-rights-in-cameroon", "Van Hollen, Democratic Senators Raise Alarm Over Human Rights in Cameroon", "2018-12-07", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 07, 2018\n\t\t\t Van Hollen, Democratic Senators Raise Alarm Over Human Rights in Cameroon \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tToday, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) led a letter signed by a group of Democratic Senators to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raising deep concerns about violations of human rights, the breakdown in the rule of law, and elections fraud in Cameroon. In addition to Senator Van Hollen, the letter was signed by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). \r\nThe Senators write, Cameroon has become an increasingly important regional counterterrorism partner and the United States has increased its commitment of security assistance in recent years. However, rising tensions in the Anglophone North West and South West regions, coupled with credible reports of human rights abuses by the Cameroonian armed forces in those regions and the Far North, where Boko Haram is active, have changed the tone of discussions regarding U.S. security assistance.\r\nThey continue, Reports indicate that government forces are responsible for extrajudicial killings, the burning of villages, torture, and other human rights abuses, including a much-publicized video reportedly showing soldiers executingtwo women, a child, and a baby they accused of being members of Boko Haram. The violent death of American missionary Charles Wesco underscores the level of bloodshed engulfing the Anglophone areas of the country. United Nations figures indicate that more than 21,000 Cameroonians have fled to neighboring countries and 160,000 are internally displaced.\r\nThe Senators close the letter urging, The U.S. government should make clear to the government of Cameroon that, while we remain dedicated to the fight against Boko Haram, our commitment to human rights and the rule of law is steadfast and we expect our regional partners to share that commitment. We must also emphasize the critical importance of a political solution to the crisis in the Anglophone regions, work with civil society groups to ensure that elections are free, open, and transparent, and offer our assistance as mediators. The United States should impose sanctions on individuals found to have committed gross violations of human rights, consistent with the law. In addition, we will work with our colleagues in the Senate to assess whether additional conditions should be imposed on security assistance to Cameroon.\r\nThe full text of the letter can be found here and below.\r\nDear Secretary Pompeo:\r\nWe are writing in response to concerns that have been raised about the recent elections in Cameroon, the ongoing crisis in the Anglophone regions of the country, and human rights abuses related to the crisis and the campaign against Boko Haram.\r\nCameroon has become an increasingly important regional counterterrorism partner and the United States has increased its commitment of security assistance in recent years. However, rising tensions in the Anglophone North West and South West regions, coupled with credible reports of human rights abuses by the Cameroonian armed forces in those regions and the Far North, where Boko Haram is active, have changed the tone of discussions regarding U.S. security assistance.\r\nReports indicate that government forces are responsible for extrajudicial killings, the burning of villages, torture, and other human rights abuses, including a much-publicized video reportedly showing soldiers executing two women, a child, and a baby they accused of being members of Boko Haram. The violent death of American missionary Charles Wesco underscores the level of bloodshed engulfing the Anglophone areas of the country. United Nations figures indicate that more than 21,000 Cameroonians have fled to neighboring countries and 160,000 are internally displaced.\r\nIn addition, recent elections were marred by irregularities and intimidation. Voter turnout in the Anglophone regions was reportedly marked by apathy, and in some regions, outright fear, and driven to unprecedented lows by the military's campaign against Anglophone separatists, which has often veered into human rights abuses against civilians. The results of the election remain heavily disputed, and multiple presidential candidates have petitioned for the results to be voided, citing allegations of ballot stuffing and intimidation. The program director for Central Africa at the International Crisis Group told Foreign Policy that [t]here is an emerging civil war. Anglophones feel completely disenfranchised, but they didn't need the elections to tell them that.\r\nThe U.S. government should make clear to the government of Cameroon that, while we remain dedicated to the fight against Boko Haram, our commitment to human rights and the rule of law is steadfast and we expect our regional partners to share that commitment. We must also emphasize the critical importance of a political solution to the crisis in the Anglophone regions, support civil society groups to ensure that elections are free, credible, and transparent, and offer our assistance as mediators. The United States should impose sanctions on individuals found to have committed gross violations of human rights, consistent with the law. In addition, we will work with our colleagues in the Senate to assess whether additional conditions should be imposed on security assistance to Cameroon.\r\nWe look forward to working with you on this critical issue.\r\nSincerely,\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://cummings.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/maryland-delegation-urges-university-system-maryland-ensure-health", "Maryland Delegation Urges University System of Maryland to Ensure Health, Safety of Every Student", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Elijah Cummings", "C000984", "cummings.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON  U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Congressmen Steny Hoyer, Elijah Cummings, Dutch Ruppersberger, and John Sarbanes yesterday met with the University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents Chair Linda Gooden and USM Chancellor Bob Caret. The meeting was requested in the aftermath of the Board's investigation into and recommendations regarding the football program at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). After the meeting, the members released the following joint statement:\n\nIn the wake of the tragic and avoidable death of Jordan McNair, it is critical that the entire University System of Maryland implements reforms to keep students safe. In our meeting, Chair Gooden and Chancellor Caret reiterated their commitment to following the recommendations of the independent commission. But promises are not enough, and the congressional delegation will push for continued oversight to ensure health and safety remain their primary focus. In the aftermath of the McNair tragedy, it's also clear that the Board of Regents acted outside of the bounds  we support Dr. Loh and believe universities' presidents must have the authority to implement personnel and operational decisions on their own campuses. Together, we will work to make sure that USM delivers a high-quality education and provides for the health and safety of every student.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://harris.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-harris-announces-20-million-infrastructure-grant-new-i-95", "Congressman Harris Announces $20 Million Infrastructure Grant for New I-95 Interchange in Cecil County", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Republican", "House", "MD", "Andy Harris", "H001052", "harris.house.gov", "harris", "https://harris.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, DC: The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a $20 million grant to Cecil County. The Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant provides funding for a new interchange at I-95/Belvidere Road, and for the relocation of Belvidere Road and construction of a new bridge over I-95. In July 2018, Congressman Harris led a letter from members of Maryland's Congressional Delegation to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao expressing support for this important project.\n\nCongressman Harris made the following statement applauding the BUILD grant:\n\n\"This BUILD grant in Cecil County is important to the ongoing economic development in the Principio Enterprise Zone and will positively impact Cecil County as well as the First District. The construction of the I-95 interchange will continue to attract and retain innovative and thriving local employers. Because of the strategic location of Cecil County within the Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C. and New York City corridor, the I-95/Belvidere interchange will further stimulate economic growth in this area, with new and existing businesses estimated to create 7,500 jobs. The decision to award Cecil County with this grant shows the tremendous leadership of President Trump and Secretary Chao and their ongoing commitment to improving our infrastructure and our economy.\"\n\nFor press inquiries, please contact Congressman Harris' Washington, D.C. office at 202-225-5311, or contact Julia Nista at Julia.Nista@mail.house.gov.\n\nA copy of the delegation letter is attached.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:11:43Z"], ["https://ruppersberger.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/maryland-delegation-urges-university-system-of-maryland-to-ensure-health", "Maryland Delegation Urges University System of Maryland to Ensure Health, Safety of Every Student", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger", "R000576", "ruppersberger.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(Washington, DC) U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Congressmen Steny Hoyer, Elijah Cummings, Dutch Ruppersberger, and John Sarbanes yesterday met with the University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents Chair Linda Gooden and USM Chancellor Bob Caret. The meeting was requested in the aftermath of the Board's investigation into and recommendations regarding the football program at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). After the meeting, the members released the following joint statement:  \n\t  \n\t\"In the wake of the tragic and avoidable death of Jordan McNair, it is critical that the entire University System of Maryland implements reforms to keep students safe. In our meeting, Chair Gooden and Chancellor Caret reiterated their commitment to following the recommendations of the independent commission. But promises are not enough, and the congressional delegation will push for continued oversight to ensure health and safety remain their primary focus. In the aftermath of the McNair tragedy, it's also clear that the Board of Regents acted outside of the bounds  we support Dr. Loh and believe universities' presidents must have the authority to implement personnel and operational decisions on their own campuses. Together, we will work to make sure that USM delivers a high-quality education and provides for the health and safety of every student.\"", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/how-house-democrats-plan-to-pressure-trump-gop-into-passing-campaign", "How House Democrats Plan to Pressure Trump, GOP Into Passing Campaign Finance, Ethics Reforms", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The strategy to pass such a measure, said Democratic RepresentativeJohn Sarbanesduring a call with reporters Thursday, is to come out strong supporting the bill in January, creating momentum that puts \"pressure on all members\" on \"both sides of the aisle.\" ...One potential strategy to garner support for the bill from both the American people and Republicans, Sarbanes said, is to promote each one of the three sections separately in individual bills. Then,voters can assemble themselves around the separate measures and get GOP senators interested in some pieces to then push forward the full package.... Once the public sees it, then they'll want to pass the whole thing, not just pieces, Sarbanes said, warning there would be a political consequence for those who stand in its way. ... Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House Minority Leader who is expected to retake her gavel as speaker of the House in January, told reporters last weekthat \"our best friend in this debate is the public.\"", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/hoyer-sarbanes-outline-capitol-hill-reform-push", "Hoyer, Sarbanes Outline Capitol Hill Reform Push", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Two Maryland lawmakers are poised to play a leading role in a push to bring reform to the U.S. political system.... Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D), who is expected to serve as House majority leader in the new Congress, and Rep. John P. Sarbanes (D), chairman of the Democracy Reform Task Force, told reporters on Thursday that the public believes the system is rigged against them and is clamoring for change.... But Democrats are so determined to signal to a scandal-weary public they understand their concerns, they have made their reform package the first order of business  House Resolution 1.... How do you make it a priority? You put it first on the agenda, said Hoyer, who will be in charge of the House calendar in the new Congress. This is a statement we want make about priorities and the importance of cleaning up government. ... Added Sarbanes: People are starved for reform.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/lawmakers-press-gm-on-white-marsh-plants-closure", "Lawmakers Press GM On White Marsh Plant's Closure", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Members of Maryland's congressional delegation met Wednesday evening with the chair and CEO of General Motors to ask about the automaker's decision toclose their White Marsh transmission plant.... Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, and Reps. Steny Hoyer, Elijah Cummings, Dutch Ruppersberger and John Sarbanes said in a joint statement they expressed their dismay to CEO Mary Barra in a meeting on Capitol Hill.... \"We urged her to reconsider the company's decision, as the plant is large, modern and situated in a community that wants to keep up its hard work,\" the Democrats said. \"The company's stated realignment' to focus on light-duty trucks, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), and self-driving and electric vehicles makes the White Marsh decision incomprehensible because the plant makes light-duty truck transmissions and electric motors.\"", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/md-congressional-leaders-concerned-with-how-university-handled-mcnair-case", "Md. Congressional Leaders Concerned with How University Handled McNair Case", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Maryland's two U.S. senators and several House representatives sat down with top leaders from the University System of Maryland on Wednesday to express their concerns following one of the most tumultuous and tragic years in the history of the system's football program.... The meeting on Capitol Hill included the system's Chancellor Robert Caret and Board of Regents Chairwoman Linda Gooden.... The meeting included Sen. Ben Cardin, as well as Reps. Elijah Cummings, Steny Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes and Anthony Brown.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/the-house-democrats-blueprint-for-taking-on-trump-and-republicans", "The House Democrats Blueprint for Taking on Trump and Republicans", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "John Sarbanes", "S001168", "sarbanes.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "House Democrats' first order of business in the next Congress will be a wide-ranging reforms package aimed at increasing access to the ballot box, overhauling the country's campaign finance rules, and codifying several ethics rules into law.... The ambitious piece of legislation is unlikely to make it through the Senate, where Republicans will hold a comfortable majority in the incoming Congress.... But by backing the bill, numbered HR-1, as their first official legislative proposal of the new Congress, House Democrats have laid out a blueprint for how they plan to govern as the majority and some of the ways they plan to take on the GOP-controlled Senate and President Donald Trump.... We've actually got a plan to try to restore the democracy and give people their voice back, Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., who is spearheading the effort, said in an interview. That's the kind of the foundational thing before you can go do anything else.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-announces-senate-passage-of-small-business-size-standards-legislation", "Cardin Announces Senate Passage of Small Business Size Standards Legislation", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 06, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin Announces Senate Passage of Small Business Size Standards Legislation \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington  U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), RankingMember of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, today announced Senate passage of legislation to ensure that small business size standards are calculated using average annual receipts from the previous five years, instead of the previous three. This change will significantly reduce the impact of years wherein businesses experience unexpectedly rapid growth, often causing them to prematurely lose their small business status.\r\nThe Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018 (HR 6330), passed the House of Representatives in September by voice vote.The Senate companion bill (S.3562), introduced by Ranking Member Cardin, was reported out of the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee last month by a vote of 19-0.\r\nSmall businesses are our nation's innovators and job creators, said Senator Cardin. This bill gives small business owners peace of mind that they will still have access to programs that provide lending and contracting opportunities as they attempt to take their businesses to the next level.\r\nThe bill now goes to the President for his signature.\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-van-hollen-announce-112000-in-funding-for-chesapeake-city-water-storage-and-infrastructure", "Cardin, Van Hollen Announce $112,000 in Funding for Chesapeake City Water Storage and Infrastructure", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Benjamin Cardin", "C000141", "www.cardin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 06, 2018\n\t\t\t Cardin, Van Hollen Announce $112,000 in Funding for Chesapeake City Water Storage and Infrastructure \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON  U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.) have announced $112,485 in federal funding to replace Chesapeake City's undersized and antiquated water storage tanks and install 1,200 feet of new water main lines. These upgrades will dramatically improve water quality and water pressure for Chesapeake City residents, as well as expand the town's water storage capacity.\r\nThese funds are an investment in Chesapeake City's families, who deserve to know that the water coming out of their taps is clean, safe and reliable. With much of our water infrastructure aging and decaying, now is the time to be making these investments all across our country and our state, said Senator Cardin, a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. This grant ensures that Cecil County families will have access to the water they need for years to come.\r\nInfrastructure investments drive economic growth in our communities and improve the health of Maryland families. These funds will enable Chesapeake City to improve water quality for their residents, said Senator Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I will keep fighting to secure future funding for infrastructure projects in Cecil County and across our state.\r\nThe grant comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Development Program, as part of a greater Loan and Grant initiative to revitalize water systems nationwide. These funds will be used in combination with two other USDA grants and a $1,027,515 investment from the State of Maryland.\r\n###\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/-van-hollen-statement-on-nomination-of-bernard-mcnamee-as-member-of-federal-energy-regulatory-commission-ferc", "Van Hollen Statement on Nomination of Bernard McNamee as Member of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 06, 2018\n\t\t\t  Van Hollen Statement on Nomination of Bernard McNamee as Member of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tToday, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen released the following statement regarding the nomination of Bernard McNamee as a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC):\r\nMR. PRESIDENT, President Trump has nominated Bernard McNamee to be a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).\r\nFERC is an independent agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. FERC also reviews proposals to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and interstate natural gas pipelines as well as licensing hydropower projects.\r\nHistorically, FERC has been independent and non-partisan. I am concerned that if confirmed, Mr. McNamee would threaten the non-partisan independence of FERC.\r\nMr. McNamee has a long-standing history of being an opponent of clean energy and led Texas' efforts to challenge the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan.\r\nIn remarks before the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) andsponsored by Koch Industriesin February 2018, Mr. McNamee said fossil fuels are \"key to our way of life,\" but renewable energy \"screws up the whole physics of the grid.\" He also portrayed industry lawsuits with environmental groups as a \"constant battle between liberty and tyranny.\"\r\nWhile at the Department of Energy, Mr. McNamee was a key player in the agency's failed attempt to bail out the coal industry and upend wholesale energy markets.\r\nFurthermore, I am very concerned that Mr. McNamee will take us backwards in the fight to combat climate change. Just recently, the Trump Administration tried to bury the release of the Forth National Climate Assessment report, and its alarming statistics on the realities of climate change. The report found that annual average temperatures in the United States are projected to continue to increase in the coming decades and that human health and safety, our quality of life, and the rate of economic growth in communities across the U.S. are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In my home state of Maryland, the report found that one of Maryland's crown jewels, the Chesapeake Bay, will experience stronger and more frequent storms, an increase in heavy precipitation events, increasing bay water temperatures, and a rise in sea level.\r\nMr. President, FERC's independence is critical to its mission and Mr. McNamee, if confirmed, would be a significant departure from that.\r\nAnd his history as being a supporter of the fossil fuel industry, an opponent of clean energy, and an opponent of progress to combat climate change are alarming. I oppose his nomination to be a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "truncated": false, "filtered_table_rows_count": 1662, "expanded_columns": [], "expandable_columns": [], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "units": {}, "query": {"sql": "select url, title, date, year, month, party, chamber, state, member_name, bioguide_id, domain, scraper, source, date_source, text, has_text, collected_at, updated_at from releases where \"chamber\" = :p0 and \"state\" = :p1 and \"year\" = :p2 order by date desc limit 101", "params": {"p0": "House", "p1": "MD", "p2": "2018"}}, "facet_results": {"party": {"name": "party", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?chamber=House&state=MD&year=2018", "results": [{"value": "Democrat", "label": "Democrat", "count": 1519, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?chamber=House&state=MD&year=2018&party=Democrat", "selected": false}, {"value": "Republican", "label": "Republican", "count": 143, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?chamber=House&state=MD&year=2018&party=Republican", "selected": false}], "truncated": false}, "chamber": {"name": "chamber", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?chamber=House&state=MD&year=2018", "results": [{"value": "House", "label": "House", "count": 1662, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?state=MD&year=2018", "selected": true}], "truncated": false}, "state": {"name": "state", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?chamber=House&state=MD&year=2018", "results": [{"value": "MD", "label": "MD", "count": 1662, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?chamber=House&year=2018", "selected": true}], "truncated": false}, "year": {"name": "year", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?chamber=House&state=MD&year=2018", "results": [{"value": "2018", "label": "2018", "count": 1662, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?chamber=House&state=MD", "selected": true}], "truncated": false}}, "suggested_facets": [], "next": "2018-12-06,https~3A~2F~2Fwww~2Evanhollen~2Esenate~2Egov~2Fnews~2Fpress-releases~2F-van-hollen-statement-on-nomination-of-bernard-mcnamee-as-member-of-federal-energy-regulatory-commission-ferc", "next_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?chamber=House&state=MD&year=2018&_next=2018-12-06%2Chttps~3A~2F~2Fwww~2Evanhollen~2Esenate~2Egov~2Fnews~2Fpress-releases~2F-van-hollen-statement-on-nomination-of-bernard-mcnamee-as-member-of-federal-energy-regulatory-commission-ferc&_sort_desc=date", "private": false, "allow_execute_sql": true, "query_ms": 279.4156610034406, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}