An outspoken champion for human rights, Sen. Ben Cardin chairs the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, as well as the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development.
Chairman Cardin joined the Helsinki Commission in 1993 and previously served as
chairman of the Commission in the 111th and 113th Congresses. In 2015, he was named as the Special Representative on Anti-Semitism, Racism, and Intolerance for the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, a position he continues to hold today.
Throughout his career in public service, Chairman Cardin has advocated for accountability and transparency measures to promote good governance and to combat corruption. He is the lead author of the Sergei Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which imposes sanctions on Russian individuals and entities responsible for the death of Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, as well as individuals who commit gross violations of human rights against rights defenders in Russia. He also authored the Global Magnitsky Human Rights and Accountability Act, which gives the United States the power to deny travel and banking privileges to individuals who commit gross violations of human rights against rights defenders and dissidents, and leaders who commit acts of significant corruption.
Most recently, Chairman Cardin and Helsinki Commission Ranking Member Sen. Roger Wicker (MS) introduced the Countering Russian and Other Overseas Kleptocracy (CROOK) Act, which would establish an anti-corruption action fund to provide extra funding during historic windows of opportunity for reform in foreign countries and streamline work strengthening the rule of law abroad.
Chairman Cardin’s other legislative accomplishments include the Cardin-Lugar transparency provision of Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protect Act, which requires publicly traded companies to report payments to foreign governments for drilling and mining rights, and the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act, a law which he authored with Sen. Marco Rubio to ensure transparency in U.S. foreign assistance so that civil society in the United States and in aid partner countries can hold their governments accountable.
Chairman Cardin has been a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since 2007 and served as Ranking Member from 2015-2018. In addition to his foreign relations leadership roles, he chairs the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and the Senate Environment & Public Works Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He is also a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee.
