WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), chair and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on State Department and USAID Operations, lauded unanimous Senate approval late Wednesday of their resolution honoring Shinzo Abe, the former Prime Minister of Japan, who was assassinated at a political rally earlier this month. In April of this year, Cardin and Hagerty, along with Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), traveled to Japan where they were honored to meet with the former Prime Minister to further strengthen the strong alliance between the U.S. and Japan, as well as discuss key issues facing our two countries. 

The resolution highlights how “the United States lost a great friend and ally with the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose leadership laid a lasting foundation for the United States and Japan to partner for decades to come in promoting freedom, prosperity, and security around the world and opposing authoritarianism and tyranny.”

In addition to Cardin and Hagerty, cosponsors include: Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ben Lujan (D-N.M.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), Jerry Moran (R-Kans.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Steven Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Thune (R-S.D.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Daniel Sullivan (R-Alaska), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), John Kennedy (R-La.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.).

The full text of the resolution follows and can be found at this link:

RESOLUTION

Remembering former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe.

Whereas the emergence of a prosperous and democratic Japan over the past 75 years has been one of the foundations of global stability and peace in the world;

Whereas former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was tragically assassinated on July 8, 2022, resulting in the loss of a leading statesman and tireless champion of democratic values around the world;

Whereas former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 2006 to 2007 and 2012 to 2020, while leaving an indelible mark on the politics, economy, and society of Japan, as well as prosperity and security around the world;

Whereas, in August 2007, at the Parliament of the Republic of India, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered a historic speech entitled ‘‘The Confluence of the Two Seas’’, which inspired the vision of the free and open Indo-Pacific;

Whereas, in December 2012, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched the concept of the democratic security diamond— the precursor to the modern-day Quadrilateral Security Dialogue—in which he envisaged a strategy under which the United States, Australia, India, and Japan would form a ‘‘diamond to safeguard’’ the maritime commons stretching from the Indian Ocean region to the Western Pacific;

Whereas former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advanced the United States-Japan alliance through multiple Presidential administrations of the United States by strengthening diplomatic, military, and economic cooperation, including the Trade Agreement between the United States of America and Japan, done at Washington October 7, 2019;

Whereas former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tirelessly sought to resolve the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and continuously sought the safe return of such citizens to Japan;

Whereas former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe relentlessly pursued the denuclearization of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea by leading a global campaign to cut off revenue to the unlawful nuclear weapons program the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; and

Whereas the United States lost a great friend and ally with the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose leadership laid a lasting foundation for the United States and Japan to partner for decades to come in promoting freedom, prosperity, and security around the world and opposing authoritarianism and tyranny: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate—

(1) remembers former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe and his work to strengthen the alliance between the United States and Japan; and

(2) extends condolences to the family of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the people of Japan.