A third-generation Marylander, Ben Cardin has been a national leader on health care, retirement security, the environment and fiscal issues while representing the people of Maryland in the U.S. Senate, and before that in the House of Representatives. He has worked across party lines to further U.S. national security and to ensure that good governance, transparency and respect for human rights are integrated into American foreign policy.
First elected to the Senate in 2006, Senator Cardin currently serves as Chair of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee, which is at the forefront of rebuilding our economy. He is a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations, Finance, and Environment & Public Works committees.
Agriculture is Maryland’s largest industry, with more than 12,000 farms covering more than 2 million acres. They produce $1.3 billion of agricultural products annually and employ 350,000 workers. Success requires a unique blend of federal and state programs that help farmers manage risk, carry out careful stewardship of every acre, and provide opportunities to market their products close to home.
Maryland farmers understand the value of a healthy Chesapeake Bay: a cleaner Bay means better water and soil for producers and a stronger overall economy for the region and the nation. That’s why I will continue to fight for Maryland farmers, including federal support for conservation efforts. I worked to ensure the $23.5 billion in pandemic relief funding for farmers and ranchers nationwide included in the CARES Act was accessible to Maryland’s wide variety of commodities, including seafood. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 invested over $12 billion in nutrition assistance and increased SNAP, WIC, and P-EBT benefits, including funds to help expand SNAP online purchasing and make it easier for Maryland participants, especially individuals with low access to transportation, as well as those with physical limitations, to order and pay for their groceries online.
One of my highest priorities is finalizing ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) so that we finally guarantee in our Constitution that men and women are equal under the law. There should be no time limit on equality and, for years, I have led the Senate fight to remove the arbitrary deadline for ratification. While we celebrate America’s first female Vice President, our nation is held back as the only modern constitution that fails to enshrine full equality for both men and women.
Most Americans are surprised to learn that the ERA is not already part of the U.S. Constitution – 3 out of 4 think it should be included.
The current resolution (S.J.Res.1) has more than 50 bipartisan cosponsors. The required 38 states have now ratified the ERA. The House has passed legislation eliminating the deadline for ratification. Now it is up to the Senate to remove any obstacles to certifying the ERA as the 28áµ—Ê° amendment. More than 100 years after women fought for and earned the right to vote, our progress as a nation is incomplete unless all women are able to achieve freedom and equality.
Every single American should be able to enjoy their retirement from the workforce with confidence that their needs will be met by the money they have set aside in their IRA and 401k plans as our economy changes. As a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, I have worked across the aisle to champion reforms to incentivize Americans to save more for retirement through investing vehicles that will allow them to take advantage of the growth opportunities in our dynamic economy. I have also introduced bipartisan legislation to encourage the growth of S corporations that are owned by Employee Stock Ownership Plans to allow more of our nation’s small business owners to retire by selling their businesses to their employees.
A national treasure, the Chesapeake Bay is America’s largest estuary, an incredibly diverse and productive ecosystem, and the heart of Maryland’s economy and culture. Since arriving in Congress, I have made protecting and improving the health of the Bay a high priority. As a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, I am working to ensure that our bedrock environmental laws are protected and emerging threats to clean, safe water and healthy air are addressed.
I fought hard for WRDA provisions related to specific river basins, watersheds and coastal areas and increases for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Chesapeake Bay Oyster Recovery Program in Maryland and Virginia from $60 million to $100 million. Housed within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Chesapeake Bay Program governs restoration activities in partnership with states and stakeholders. Achieving our goals for clean water, abundant wildlife, conserved lands, public access, and a diversity of engaged communities means a stronger regional economy and better health for Marylanders.
Federal workers have long been on the front lines, protecting Americans and securing a healthy, safe future for our nation. They are patriotic and hard-working Americans who keep our borders secure and our food and water safe, care for our veterans and the elderly, process our tax refunds and Social Security checks, teach our children, search for cures to crippling diseases, explore the universe to learn more about our home planet, support our servicemen and women, and promote our interests and ideals abroad. These dedicated public servants have been on the front lines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, showing the nation how much they accomplish and the sacrifices they make to support our communities.
Federal workers are also pivotal to Maryland’s economy, as hundreds of thousands work and live here. I am committed to keeping federal jobs and facilities in Maryland, and advocating for the rights of all federal employees and retirees. I am working to preserve and protect collective bargaining rights, pensions, health care benefits, civil service protections, and scientific integrity. As the nation’s single largest employer, the federal government should set the standard for making the workplace safe for everyone so that workers can continue to meet their missions for the American people.
We owe our seniors respect, gratitude and thanks for their contributions to society. They deserve to enjoy their time with family and friends, rather than worrying about retirement security and healthcare costs. Throughout my Congressional career, I have championed the need for resources and services so that seniors can live independently, in their communities, for as long as possible.
Preserving Medicare and Social Security should be a fundamental value held by every Member of Congress, and any attempt to scale back the program endangers the health of the millions of Americans who elected them. I want to restore the peace of mind that our seniors deserve by fighting attempts to cut these and other critical programs which they rely on. Because Medicare is such a highly-rated and cost-effective program, I support efforts to allow people to begin buying into the program at age 55. This would go a long way toward helping older Americans deal with skyrocketing health care costs. It would also strengthen the program overall and benefit current participants by bringing in younger and healthier patients into the risk pool. I am working to add dental coverage as a Medicare benefit, and I have publicly urged the Administration to provide coverage for medically necessary oral and dental treatment.
I’m also committed to ensuring that retirement security is achievable and that our seniors find confidence in their IRAs and 401k plans as our economy changes. I’m working across the aisle on the Retirement Security & Savings Act, a broad set of reforms designed to help Americans save more for retirement and to increase access to 401ks and other retirement plans. I remain a strong supporter of the Older Americans Act, which expresses our nation’s commitment to protecting our seniors and includes special provisions I authored to help Holocaust survivors living in the United States access essential services, such as health care and nutritional services, without having to live in a nursing home or assisted living facility.
I am dedicated to ensuring protections against any form of discrimination, including race, color, religion, national origin, disability, age, gender, gender identity, veterans status, or sexual orientation. I will continue to insist that our federal judges and law enforcement officers in Maryland and throughout the nation meet the highest standards of judicial integrity and respect for the civil rights and liberties of all Americans.
Year after year, the murder of Americans at the hands of police have shined a light on the continuing systemic racial injustice in law enforcement. What these tragic deaths have made all too clear is that our communities across the country desperately need reform in our police and criminal justice systems. In Baltimore and nationwide, we must do a better job in protecting and celebrating human and civil rights and the lives of marginalized men, women, and children. We must redouble our efforts to continue the dialogue and the hard work needed to rebuild the trust between law enforcement and the neighborhoods they are sworn to protect and serve.
For years, I’ve led the Senate in promoting legislation to end discriminatory profiling by law enforcement and enforce changes in police accountability, data collecting, and training. I have spearheaded the End Racial and Religious Profiling Act and the Law Enforcement Trust and Accountability Act . Rather than unfairly targeting individuals due to their characteristics and turning communities away from the police, police would be provided with additional resources to develop new and more effective policing practices. The Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act would take a comprehensive approach to steer police departments toward a guardian and community-oriented model of policing, while at the same time expanding oversight and accountability over police misconduct. Too many people have needlessly lost their lives in encounters with law enforcement. We need to establish a guardian model, not a warrior model, for our law enforcement officers who are putting their lives on the line every day.
America is stronger when the Congress and the Executive branch are united on foreign policy. The rule of law, good governance and human rights are the basic structures that allow a nation’s citizens to have a voice, to live in freedom and to prosper. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press are among the foundational human rights worth defending at home and around the world. And we must remember that women’s rights are human rights. Women are the barometer of a nation’s success, and of its stability.
I will always fight to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, encourage tolerance within societies, good governance, battle corruption, and defend the principles of liberty and sovereignty. Currently, I serve as the chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission. Through my role as a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and with the Helsinki Commission, I have worked to defend human rights and democratic institutions at home and abroad, advocating for accountability and transparency.
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They account for over 99 percent of all businesses and employ nearly half of all workers in the country. I am proud of Maryland’s strong small business sector, and even more proud that our state concentrations of minority- and women-owned small businesses in the country. Although women, minorities, and other underserved entrepreneurs in the past several decades, there remain many pervasive structural barriers that prevents their businesses from reaching their full potential. That is why as Chair of the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee, my top priority is to use the federal government as a tool to promote and achieve equity with regard to capital access, mentorship, training, and government contracting opportunities for underserved entrepreneurs.
The federal government’s capacity to address these historical challenges has been evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies have shown that policies championed by me and Senate Democrats bridged critical gaps in capital access to ensure that underserved small businesses had adequate access to Paycheck Protection Program loans. In the years ahead, I am committed to building on these successes to directly address the historical challenges that entrepreneurs in underserved communities face so they can start and grow businesses and create jobs.
While Maryland has taken strong steps to reduce gun violence, I believe that changes to how we regulate firearms are appropriate and necessary on a national level, given that many violent crimes in Maryland are committed with guns obtained outside the state. I have long supported common sense measures to that end including proposed legislation to: institute universal background checks that must be completed before a gun sale, prohibit those convicted of hate crimes and domestic violence violations from owning guns, support “red flag” laws to allow law enforcement to intervene when there is an imminent threat of violence, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips, increase mental health resources and public health research into gun violence prevention, and enhance the resources and authorities of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), making it easier to hold distributors and manufacturers more accountable for misconduct.
No one policy can fix the current epidemic of gun violence in this country. I am committed to supporting as many solutions as possible to address this deadly problem and to protect innocent lives.
Maryland families and employers are still feeling the effects of Republicans’ 2017 tax law, which tilted the tax code more favorably towards the wealthy and highly-profitable corporations than working families and small businesses. It also punished states like Maryland that invest in critical public services that promote economic growth, such as strong public schools, reliable public transportation, good roads, and a safety net for struggling families. We must do more to ensure the tax system does more to support affordable housing, child care, and clean energy.
As a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee—the Senate committee that oversees all legislation related to the tax code—I remain committed to creating a tax code that works for everyone. That is why I developed the Progressive Consumption Tax Act, which would change the way the federal government raises revenue. My bill would exempt most households from any federal income taxes and lower the corporate income tax rate to promote investment and job creation. Instead, the government would raise revenue via taxes on the purchase of goods and services. We know that working families spend more of their income on consumption than wealthy families, so the law includes a Progressive Consumption Tax rebate to ensure fairness and equity in tax burdens.
Affordable, quality health coverage should be a right and not a privilege in the United States of America. I believe access to health care is a moral issue, and I am proud of my work over the years to make it available to more Americans. I will work through whatever means available to protect and strengthen life-saving legislation, such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Instead of undermining the progress we have made, we should seek opportunities to further expand access to high-quality health care while bringing down costs. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic shined a spotlight on our nation’s health disparities and the urgent need for quality health care access for all.
I am proud to represent a state that is home to pioneers in biomedical and clinical research, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, as well as key public health agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Maryland’s medical research institutions create healthcare delivery innovations and advance the field of biotechnology, saving lives and reducing health care disparities. Research teams at Maryland institutions, like Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland School of Medicine, are driving the science and our understanding of complex health challenges, as well as training the next generation of scientists and clinicians. I am proud of Maryland’s leadership in high-quality health care, and I will work hard to maintain this standard and ensure comprehensive, affordable health care is available to Americans nationwide.
Thanks to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—the bipartisan infrastructure package that I and many of my colleagues worked hard to develop – America has begun a once-in-a-generation investment in upgrading and modernizing our nation’s infrastructure to create jobs, expand opportunities, strengthen our competitiveness, address climate change, enhance safety, and improve lives. Key among these projects are transportation projects to improve public transit, speed the flow of goods at our ports, renovate airport terminals, replace deteriorating bridges and make our roadways safer.
I have worked particular hard to ensure that federal investment in roads and bridges will be paired with robust funding for public transportation like MARC, Metro, and Amtrak, along with safe and accessible pedestrian and bike trails. Renewing and revitalizing our nation’s transportation infrastructure will ensure sustained economic growth in Maryland and nationwide.
In our Nation’s Capital, the federal government has a special responsibility and a financial stake in WMATA/Metro. Years of neglectful decisions cannot be reversed overnight. But a safe and reliable Metro is integral to the federal government and the Washington region. I will continue to fight to ensure that the federal government remains an effective partner for Metro’s future.
“As our national economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape our economy so it works for everyone. Maryland in a particularly strong position to benefit from this opportunity due to our distinction as a national leader in growth industries like alternative energy, biotech, cybersecurity, and government contracting.
Leading the Senate Small Business Committee allows to shape federal policy to ensure that entrepreneurs and small businesses have the support they need to continue innovating to keep the American economy competitive globally and create jobs. And as a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, I will continue to champion policies that reward our nation’s innovators and job creators and help us maintain the strongest, most capable workforce on the planet. “
Everyone deserves a safe and secure place to call home. Throughout my career, I have championed resources that promote ubiquitous access to affordable housing for all Americans, regardless of income level. Still, the work is far from done. According to a study conducted by the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland and Enterprise Community Partners, Inc, Maryland will add approximately 97,200 extremely and very low-income households between 2020 and 2030. We must continue to create fair housing opportunities in our communities, making sure not to leave anyone behind.
As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, I am pleased to have introduced legislation that promotes the renovation of single-family homes in distressed rural and urban areas. My bipartisan bill, The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA) creates a federal tax credit that covers the cost between purchasing and renovating a home in these targeted areas and the price at which they can be sold. This tax credit program would close the current “value gap” where the cost to purchase and renovate single-family homes costs more than the property is worth, leading to a continuance of blighted, vacant homes in neighborhoods across the country. The NHIA would help existing homeowners in these neighborhoods renovate and stay in their homes. I am also proud of the work I’ve done to advocate for federal funding in Maryland to support affordable housing projects. Since the start of the Biden administration, Maryland has received millions of dollars to remove lead from homes, provide housing counseling services, support housing assistance for veterans, and more.
Maryland is home to tens of thousands of active, reserve and retired military. These Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have our utmost respect and appreciation. I will stand with them when they fight on the front lines and when they return to the home front. I remain steadfast in my commitment to provide our Nation’s military with the resources it needs to accomplish its mission, and to provide our military families with the first-class benefits, pay and health care that they deserve. I will continue to advocate for the mental wellness of our troops and their families.
Maryland is also home to 15 military bases ranging from the U.S. Naval Academy, which trains our future naval officers, to the Aberdeen Proving Ground, which tests and develops our future military technology. Crossing the state from Patuxent to Fort Detrick, we are proud of the home that we provide to our military and will do everything possible to protect our facilities from any future changes in our national military profile, and ensure continued funding for research and development in our military labs.
Education is truly the great equalizer in our society. Learners of all ages depend on access to quality education at every level, from pre-school through K-12 to higher education or career and technology education. I will continue to advocate for federal education policies that enable students to succeed in the classroom, educators across our state to be excited about teaching, and parents and community advocates to have a voice in the education of their children. I am committed to providing funding for early childhood education, teacher and principal training, civic and government education, the arts, and environmental literacy curriculum, literacy and mental health supports for our students.
With students and families facing ever-increasing student debt loads, now is the time to provide affordable, high-quality educational opportunities that allow students to invest in their educational goals without taking on generational debt. In 2019, I introduced the Strengthening American Communities Act to create a debt-free pathway for students to earn an undergraduate degree if they commit to public service for at least three years after graduation and to accelerate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for existing public servants to pay down their student loan debts. I also support the America’s College Promise plan which would allow academically successful students to earn the first two years of their college degree tuition-free at a community college or Minority Serving Institution such as Maryland’s four Historically Black Colleges and Universities. I will continue to advocate for students and parents who have already taken out student loans to be allowed to refinance those loans at today’s lower interest rates and for student loan servicers to be required to provide borrowers with accurate and complete information. Finally, I support allowing hardworking Maryland students with high debt to income ratios to fulfill their obligations by paying a percentage of their discretionary income, as through the Department of Education’s Income Driven Repayment Plans. These and other steps to relieve crippling student loan debts are critical to empowering this generation to participate fully in our economy, ultimately benefitting all Americans.
Our nation’s immigration and border security system is broken and must be fixed. We must ensure that our border is secure, while at the same time honoring America’s long-time commitment to providing refuge to those seeking asylum as they flee and persecution in their home countries.
Congress and the President must work together to enact comprehensive immigration reform so that we can bring undocumented immigrants out of the shadows using a fair process. Such a measure must include provisions to protect Dreamers and those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Dreamers TPS recipients are essential to our communities in Maryland and across the country. They came here legally and are business owners contributing to our economies, students with bright futures, and leaders on the frontlines of our social movements. Ultimately, Congress should provide eligible individuals with a pathway to citizenship for long-standing residents who now call America their home.
The legitimacy of our democracy depends on our free and fair elections. Recent actions by foreign adversaries as well as by elected officials nationwide threaten both the integrity of our election systems and the voting rights of American citizens. We are seeing incidents of purges of eligible voters from the rolls, misinformation campaigns, restrictions to voting by mail and requirements for voter IDs, creating significant burdens to voting, especially for communities of color. These tactics are enabled by the Supreme Court’s regrettable 2013 Shelby County decision to gut the Voting Rights Act,whichhad worked successfully for decades to reduce racial discrimination in voting.
I authored two provisions that were included in the 2021 Freedom to Vote Act and the For the People Act: the Democracy Restoration Act and the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, to make elections a more fair process for all citizens. The Democracy Restoration Act, would help former felons regain their right to vote after they return to their communities. The Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act would combat misinformation campaigns that deter minority communities from voting in elections.
Currently, the filibuster is being exploited by individual senators to stop progress on voting rights and other legislation. The Senate rules need to change or we will not be able to pass essential voting rights legislation. Every citizen, no matter race, party or zip code deserves an equal say in our elections.
Congress also needs to act to overturn the disastrous decision of the Supreme Court in the Citizens United case, which opened the door for special interests and corporate America to have an oversized influence over our political system. We can’t let dark money drown out the voices of everyday Americans. The power of our democracy belongs to the people – not corporations, not the wealthy elite. Congress should act – either by legislation or constitutional amendment – to overturn this Court decision to restore faith in and defend our free and fair electoral system.
Protecting Maryland’s air, lands, and waters are life-long priorities. From Western Maryland’s scenic ridgelines to the shorelines of our iconic Chesapeake Bay – and everything in between – our state holds a surprising array of natural treasures. As a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), I am well-positioned to ensure that they continue to receive the federal resources required to ensure their conservation and restoration.
We live in the time of a rapidly changing climate. With almost 3,200 miles of shoreline, Maryland is particularly vulnerable to threats from rising sea levels, flooding, and intensifying storm activity. Our cities and towns also suffer from aging infrastructure, particularly in the forms of outdated pipes that handle our drinking water, storm water runoff, and waste. This creates a host of hazards for our public and environmental health alike. In my role as Chair of the EPW Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, I am committed to achieving significant improvements in the quality of our water infrastructure.
Agriculture continues to be the largest sector of Maryland’s economy, as well as a leading source of pollution. As our farmers continue to embrace new ways to reduce the pollutants that run off of their lands, I am working to expand the USDA and EPA programs that make it possible to implement innovative initiatives to reduce agricultural pollution. Similarly, I am working to ensure that the leadership of these agencies is constantly mindful of Maryland’s role as a regional leader in the effort to elevate our environmental integrity.
Every county in Maryland has a significant opioid problem. It is still growing across the country and became more severe during the COVID-19 pandemic as social isolation contributed to spikes in anxiety, depression, substance abuse, domestic violence and suicide. Maryland ranks among the top five states in terms of opioid-related overdose deaths, with particularly high rates of heroin-related deaths. There is no simple answer. We need to have public health services available — but it is much more. This problem did not appear overnight; defeating it will require continued engagement and collaboration with federal, state, and community partners.
In September 2018, I was pleased to help pass the bipartisan Opioid Crisis Response Act that took the first steps in addressing the epidemic. I successfully fought to include language to expand the use of telehealth services for the treatment of substance use disorder under Medicare, to provide for coverage of medication-assistant treatment (MAT) under Medicare, and to study promising state strategies to support individuals who struggle with substance use. Specifically, my bills will result in reports to Congress on successful state Medicaid peer support programs and housing-related services for individuals struggling with both homelessness and substance use disorders.
In addition to public health strategies, we must support law enforcement in cracking down on people who are creating and distributing illegal drugs. I have strongly supported the coordinated initiatives of the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), which includes numerous cities and counties in Maryland. I collaborated with members of the Maryland Congressional delegation to obtain federal funding to support state law enforcement agencies in combatting the illegal manufacturing and distribution of methamphetamine, heroin, and prescription opioids. In previous spending bills, I have also secured federal funding for the state to address the problem. Ending this devastating epidemic will remain one of my priorities in the Senate.
Fighting for clean air and clean water should be a nonpartisan priority. Skeptics need to understand that pollution and extreme weather do not stop at state or national boundaries. The best available science tells us that climate change is causing irreparable harm to people who least can afford to adapt to the increasing instances and severity of extreme weather that are adding to social and economic instability. Dealing with climate change has become a national security imperative. It’s having a definitive impact in Maryland, where 70 percent of us live in coastal areas. Superstorms such as Irene and Sandy have wrought damaging floods in places such as Annapolis and Baltimore, while the people of Smith Island are watching their island disappear under rising sea levels. I will always fight back against the seemingly unending efforts to derail foresighted policies that safeguard our environment.
When we base our energy and environmental policies on science rather than politics, we find that American ingenuity and innovation can solve these environmental challenges, as well as the energy, economic and national security problems that are all intertwined. Investing in new technologies creates new jobs. Diversifying our energy sources creates competition – stabilizing and lowering energy prices. And thinking beyond fossil fuels buried in unstable or unreliable countries strengthens our national security. Moving to alternative and renewable energy sources also will help reduce the impact of climate change. I will continue to strongly advocate for enhanced U.S. leadership on clean energy development and deployment. The U.S. is one of the world’s leading polluters and must lead the world in taking critical steps towards mitigating the root causes of global climate change.
I championed President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, strong-but-flexible-and-fair carbon pollution standards for power plants that protect the air Marylanders breathe while checking the impact of energy generation on the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. On April 1, 2016, I joined a bipartisan group of forty-three current and former Senators and 164 current and former House members in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit supporting the Clean Power Plan, which was challenged in State of West Virginia, et al. v. EPA. I am committed to doing all I can to ensure the United States fulfills its obligations and serves as an example to every nation on Earth of what is possible when we put our science, leadership, and ingenuity to work on behalf of humanity. As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, I will find opportunities to encourage foreign leaders to follow the U.S. example and urge the expedition of other nation’s efforts to join the Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Americans 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. I am proud of the concrete achievements in the Water Resources Development Act passed into law in late 2016. The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) is one bill that truly impacts every single person in our country. Many sections of WRDA were taken from legislation that I authored. Among many provisions, this bill authorized $300 million over five years in grants to remove lead pipes from the houses of low-income communities, schools and day care centers, among others. WRDA also authorizes $100 million over five years for grants to carry out a voluntary school and child care lead testing program nationwide. Now, every community in our state and country—urban, rural and suburban—will be made safer and healthier by the clean water provisions we were able to include in this bipartisan bill.
Congress’ top priority is to protect the American people. We must give our law enforcement and intelligence professionals the tools they need to prevent and disrupt terrorist attacks while also ensuring that our government uses its scarce resources wisely, and that it strikes an appropriate balance between national security and protecting civil liberties. For the FBI, ensuring they have the proper tools and resources to carry out their mission means consolidating 30 locations into a robust new headquarters in Prince George’s County, Md.
Overall, I am particularly concerned about cybersecurity and the potential damage that could be inflicted by hackers, terrorists, unfriendly states and others trying to steal or manipulate our intellectual property, damage our national infrastructure or sow seeds of doubt in our social systems. I believe in balance: protecting key constitutional rights, including privacy, is as critical online and in cyberspace as it is elsewhere.
Immigration also has a major impact on our national security as well as our economic security. Our nation's immigration and border security system is broken and must be fixed. We must ensure that our borders are secure. At the same time, we must require undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows. The process won't be easy or quick, but it should be fair and practical. We also must use the full force of the law against employers who hire undocumented immigrants.