Press Releases
Cardin, Van Hollen Celebrate Public Service Recognition Week
U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen honored the vital work of federal, state, county, and local government employees and members of the uniformed services across the nation this week by passing a bipartisan resolution to designate May 7-13, 2017, as Public Service Recognition Week. "Maryland is home to roughly 136,000 federal civilian workers and countless more public service professionals - each of whom works tirelessly to better our communities and our country," said Senator … Continue Reading
May 09, 2017
Van Hollen, Casey, Senate Democrats to Administration: Stop Sabotaging our Health Care System
U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Bob Casey (D-PA), joined by 11 Democratic Senators, demanded that the Trump Administration end its sabotage of the U.S. health care system. In a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney, the Senators demanded that the Administration commit to making vital payments to ensure the viability of the health care system and to turn over documents, which the Administration … Continue Reading
May 09, 2017
Van Hollen Statement on Firing of FBI Director Comey
U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen released the following statement after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey: "Firing FBI Director Comey has the foul stench of an attempt to stop an ongoing investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. We know that the Russians interfered in our election. We know that every intelligence agency concluded that Russia interfered on behalf of Donald Trump. And we know that Director Comey was investigating potential collusion … Continue Reading
May 08, 2017
Van Hollen, Maryland Leaders Urge FAA to Measure Noise Impacts from Altered DCA Air Traffic Patterns
U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, Congressmen John Delaney and Jamie Raskin, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, and Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner have written to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requesting that the agency measure noise levels from incoming and departing flights from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The officials request a timeline by June 5, 2017 of its review of the impact of changes made to air traffic … Continue Reading
May 08, 2017
Van Hollen: Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Progress Threatened by Trump
U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's 2016 Chesapeake Bay Report Card: "Today a new report from the University of Maryland showed the overall health of the Chesapeake Bay is improving for the second straight year. While there's still much more work to do, this demonstrates the importance of sustained federal funding for our Bay cleanup efforts. I'm pleased … Continue Reading
May 08, 2017
Van Hollen, Cardin Announce More Than $280,000 for Salisbury University Mathematics Education Program
U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) have announced $287,871 in federal funding for Salisbury University's PATHWAYS program. The funding comes from the National Science Foundation and will support a Salisbury PATHWAYS project aimed at understanding how students effectively learn mathematics in the K-12 setting, as well as inspiring undergraduate students to pursue a career in mathematics education. "As I travel across Maryland, I hear the same thing from business owners, … Continue Reading
May 04, 2017
Van Hollen Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Prevent Overmedication and Combat Suicide Among Veterans
U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) joined Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and a bipartisan group of Senators to introduce legislation aimed at combating veteran suicide. The Veterans Overmedication Prevention Act would direct the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to conduct an independent expert study on the deaths of all veterans being treated at the VA who died by suicide or from a drug overdose in the last five years. This review would ensure that the VA has accurate information about the … Continue Reading
May 03, 2017
Van Hollen Calls on President Trump to Reverse Course on Anti-Women’s Agenda
U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate HELP Committee, and 30 Senate Democrats in sending a letter calling on President Trump to reverse his harmful anti-women agenda and prioritize women's access to health care, employment opportunities, and education domestically and around the world. The senators reminded President Trump that the ongoing threat his Administration poses to reproductive rights and economic security has motivated … Continue Reading
May 03, 2017
Team Maryland Works to Expand Affordable College Education Opportunities for Maryland Families
Members of Maryland's congressional delegation gathered Wednesday to hear from leaders in Maryland's higher education community on how to best serve Maryland colleges and the students they educate. Members held an in-depth discussion with University System of Maryland Chancellor Dr. Robert Caret, McDaniel College President and Chair of the Maryland Independent Colleges and University Association (MICUA) Board of Trustees Dr. Roger Casey, Morgan State University President Dr. David Wilson, and … Continue Reading
May 02, 2017
Van Hollen, Cardin Join Colleagues in Re-Introducing Historic, Comprehensive LGBT Non-Discrimination Legislation
Today, Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) joined 44 of their colleagues in re-introducing historic, comprehensive federal legislation to ban discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT) Americans. The Equality Act of 2017 would ensure full federal non-discrimination equality by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to other protected classes, such as race or religion, in existing federal laws. The legislation was filed simultaneously in the … Continue Reading
May 02, 2017
Cardin, Van Hollen Announce Funding for the Chesapeake Bay
U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen, member of the Senate Appropriations and Agriculture Committees, and Ben Cardin, senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, have announced $73 million in funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Program in the Fiscal Year 2017 Omnibus Funding bill. The House and Senate are both scheduled to vote on the legislation this week. "President Trump's efforts to eliminate funding to clean up the Chesapeake Bay … Continue Reading
May 02, 2017
Van Hollen, Cardin Announce Investments for Western Maryland
Today U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen, member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Ben Cardin, Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), announced millions in federal funding as part of the Fiscal Year 2017 Omnibus Funding bill that will help Western Maryland. The House and Senate are both scheduled to vote on the legislation this week. The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is set to receive $152 million in the FY 2017 appropriations bill, up from the … Continue Reading
May 01, 2017
Van Hollen, Cardin Introduce COAST Act in Response to Trump Executive Order to Expand Offshore Drilling
U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) joined Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and 13 Senate cosponsors to reintroduced the Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism (COAST) Anti-Drilling Act that would ban offshore oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic Ocean. Last Friday, President Trump signed an executive order that takes the first steps towards allowing offshore oil and gas drilling along the East Coast. "Maryland's coastline and waters belong to the people, not Big Oil,"said … Continue Reading
May 01, 2017
Cardin, Van Hollen Announce Funding for Fully Consolidated FBI Headquarters
Today U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen, member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Ben Cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee (T&I), announced funding for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Headquarters Consolidation project in the Fiscal Year 2017 Omnibus Funding bill. The bill includes $323 million in the FBI account and $200 million in the General Services Administration (GSA) account, as well as a … Continue Reading
May 01, 2017
Van Hollen Introduces COAST Act in Response to Trump Executive Order to Expand Offshore Drilling
U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joined Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and 14 Senate cosponsors to reintroduced the Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism (COAST) Anti-Drilling Act that would ban offshore oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic Ocean. Last Friday, President Trump signed an executive order that takes the first steps towards allowing offshore oil and gas drilling along the East Coast. "Maryland's coastline and waters belong to the people, not Big Oil," said Senator Van Hollen. "We must … Continue Reading
May 01, 2017
Cardin, Van Hollen Announce Funding for the Purple Line, WMATA
Today U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen, member of the Senate Appropriations and Banking Committees, and Ben Cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee (T&I), announced $275 million in funding for the region's public transportation systems in the Fiscal Year 2017 Omnibus Funding bill. The legislation includes $125 million in funding for the Purple Line project and instructs the Secretary of Transportation to move forward … Continue Reading
April 28, 2017
Cardin, Van Hollen Announce $415,900 in Funding to Expand Maryland’s Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) have announced $415,900 in federal funding to add an additional 126 acres of land to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. The grant is funded through the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund and was approved for disbursement this week by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Migratory Bird Conservation Commission. The funds were raised largely through the sale of Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps, commonly known as … Continue Reading
April 28, 2017
Van Hollen, Cardin Announce New $147,479 Grant for UMES
Today U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen announced that the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) has been awarded a $147,479 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The money will be used to bring digital technology to classes where fashion design and merchandising are taught. About 90 UMES undergraduates major in fashion merchandising, and this funding will help expand the curriculum and grow the program. "This grant will … Continue Reading
April 27, 2017
Van Hollen, Cardin Call on Trump Administration to Protect Coastlines from Offshore Oil Drilling
As President Trump prepared to release a new executive order tomorrow that may call for opening up new areas offshore for oil exploration, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.)joined with more than two dozen senators calling on the Trump administration to protect the coastlines of the United States from offshore oil drilling. The senators sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke urging him not to revise the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing … Continue Reading
April 27, 2017
Van Hollen Leads Maryland Delegation in Effort to Protect Vital NASA Missions
Today U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen led every Democratic member of the Maryland Congressional Delegation in urging National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to protect two missions vital to Maryland's leadership in earth and space science. In a letter to Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot, the lawmakers warned that cutting or eliminating the Restore-L satellite servicing mission and the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, as proposed in President Trump's … Continue Reading
