WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been appointed to serve on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which is the governing board of trustees for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Senator Cardin will fill one of the five slots designated for the Senate. The Council also includes five members of the House of Representatives.
“The United States Holocaust Museum is America’s official memorial to victims of the Holocaust. It is a monument to American values and serves, in part, as our collective conscience in the fight against anti-Semitism and the apathy and ignorance that allowed Nazi propaganda to weaponize nationalism, fear, hate and bigotry. By remembering the victims, learning from survivors and educating new generations, the United States Holocaust Museum uses broad experiences to confront anti-Semitism and prevent genocide. It uses its many educational tools to highlight how quickly prejudiced attitudes can become heinous acts,” said Senator Cardin. “The six million innocent Jews who perished during the Holocaust – mothers, fathers and children – endured unknowable suffering because the world grew too complacent with hate. The United States Holocaust Museum works to ensure that we never forget those who perished and we must never again allow such reprehensible crimes to persist on our watch.”
Senator Cardin is the author of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, bipartisan legislation to ensure that the U.S. government works in a coordinated manner using its full range of tools to help prevent mass atrocities. He is the author of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act and the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which have set the global standard for ensuring justice for rights defenders in the fight against impunity.
In 2015, he was named as the Special Representative on Anti-Semitism, Racism, and Intolerance for the 57-nation Organization Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly. In the U.S. Senate and through the U.S. Helsinki Commission (CSCE), Senator Cardin has worked to raise awareness of the escalation of global anti-Semitic violence, anti-Muslim laws, and other forms of intolerance while working to promote peace, tolerance and equality.
Senator Ben Cardin has been a national leader on civil and human rights issues, working across party lines to further U.S. national security by ensuring that good governance, transparency and respect for human rights are integrated into American foreign policy efforts. He has developed a reputation for defending civil rights and has sought to find a balance between protection of civil liberties and national security.
First elected to the Senate in 2006, Senator Cardin currently serves as Ranking Member of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee. He is a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Environment & Public Works committees. He also serves on the Senate Finance Committee.
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