The Local Delegation: Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)

U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, who last year was elected to replace retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes, will be online Monday, Aug. 6, at 4 p.m. ET to take your questions about Congress's recently finished session, and the one that will start after the August break.

A transcript follows.

Related Discussions: Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), Rep. Albert R. Wynn.

Sen. Cardin was elected to his first term in the Senate in 2006. Prior to that, he represented Maryland's 3rd District for five terms in the House, and was Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1979 to 1986.

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Sen. Ben Cardin: It's a pleasure to be online. The last seven months have been very exciting for me. The Senate has taken up some very important issues, from the war in Iraq to the reauthorization of higher education to ethics reform and it's been a great opportunity for me to represent the people of Maryland. I thank the voters of Maryland for giving me this opportunity.

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Dundalk, Md.: I heard rumors in the spring that the Senate may hold pro forma sessions every few days during the August break, so that Bush cannot ramrod through any egregious recess appointments. Have those plans been tabled?

Sen. Ben Cardin: As far as I know the Senate does not plan to go into pro forma sessions. I would assume that some accommodations were reached with the White House on recess appointments.

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Rockville, Md.: Sen. Cardin,

Thank you for doing your chat and for your service to the state of Maryland. You split with your counterpart, Sen. Mikulski, on the FISA vote this weekend, and I was hoping you might be able to discuss what happens next with that bill. (I support your point of view on the issue, for the record.)

Sen. Ben Cardin: I felt that the legislation that was approved by Congress gave the administration greater powers than they needed without adequate court supervision. I did support the very limited corrections bill that dealt with the court decision. The legislation is for six months only and I expect that Congress will be holding hearings as early as September on what to do next. I would hope that any additional authority given the president would be subject to adequate court review.

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USA: Sen. Cardin, back in 2005 the Maryland delegation made a very strong case in support of the DOD's base re-alignment and closure recommendation to bring thousands of jobs to Aberdeen proving ground. A bunch of officials said the state was "at the ready" to handle all the people coming in. Now we're hearing that Md. needs $16 billion in infrastructure money, and you and your colleagues are trying to get it from the federal government and taxpayers. How do you reconcile the statements made in 2005, that Maryland was ready, with the current begging for federal money now? Did you really mean that Maryland was ready to sit at the federal trough?

Sen. Ben Cardin: All the funds that are being requested from DOD are for improvements on the military facilities which is a standard of implementing BRAC recommendations. There are some funds that the delegation has requested out of its discretionary authority that deals with the community impact from BRAC which are high priorities for our state. Maryland is ready and will be ready for implementing the BRAC recommendations.

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Virginia: Senator, what is your opinion of blog sites like the Daily Kos? What is your opinion of talk radio? Should the federal government reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine?

Sen. Ben Cardin: No, I don't believe that the federal government should reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine. I believe strongly in the freedom of speech and expression. However, media outlets should be open to broadcasting talk shows that provide a variety of news.

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Indianapolis, Ind.: Health insurance would be more affordable if everyone who paid within 90 days of invoice paid what the HMOs and big insurers pay. Why not have a federal law which simply gives the most favored discount to any insurance company or patient who pays the bill within 90 days of invoice?

Sen. Ben Cardin: I'm not exactly sure what you are referring to. In Maryland, we have an all-payer rate system for hospital care so all users pay the same rates. We clearly need an aggressive federal government to bring down the cost of prescription medicine. I've introduced legislation to do just that.

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Detroit, Mich.: U.S. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez have introduced a bill -- the BRAC Cop Act -- that would attempt to rein in cost overruns in the 2005 BRAC process. Any major closure or Realignment that costs 25 percent more than it was originally estimated would trigger a Congressional review of that closure. It is based on the good government act included in the 1982 Defense appropriations act and is commonly referred to as the Nunn-McCurdy amendment, which was permanently enacted in 1983.

Considering that Maryland stands to gain up to 60,000 jobs from the 2005 consolidation process, and that the process is now on its way to becoming nine billion dollars more than estimated, would you support this legislation? Why or why not?

Sen. Ben Cardin: BRAC has saved the federal taxpayers billions of dollars. My New Jersey colleagues opposed BRAC because it took jobs away from New Jersey and brought them to Maryland. Overall the federal taxpayer will save money. Congress set up the BRAC process to take parochial political considerations out of base realignment and we should let those roles stand. Therefore I oppose the legislation offered by Sens. Lautenberg and Menendez.

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Washington, D.C.: Do you share Rep. Chris Van Hollen's support for public financing of election campaigns? I was very impressed by Senator Obama's recent comment that under our current system of private financing, corporate campaign donors do not give money to candidates out of the goodness of their own hearts, but rather because they know from experience that they will get an excellent return on investment. For that reason, I strongly agree with Rep. Van Hollen's support for public financing of public elections and hope that you share his view.

Sen. Ben Cardin: I do. I have cosponsored Sen. Durbin's bill that provides for public financing of federal campaigns.

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Silver Spring, Md.:

This is an immigration question, but not about the failed bill. I just would like to know what are you planning to do to fix the USCIS right now, without waiting for a bill to pass. The ineffectiveness of the current USCIS, the wait times, and the unresponsiveness need to be dealt with now. It's funny when people against undocumented immigrants say: "Oh, they need to follow the rules." Yeah, like those rules are working. What can be done now?

Sen. Ben Cardin: I was disappointed that Congress denied complete immigration reform. It will be difficult to deal with the individual concerns such as the one you raised. However, I believe we should take up such issues, including border security, temporary workers and the administration of the system and deal with it now.

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Gaithersburg, Md.: There is a very real possibility that Senator Mikulski will be appointed to a cabinet position if Hilary Clinton is elected president (being that Sen. Mikulski is Clinton's national co-chairwoman). Whom would you recommend to Martin O'Malley to fill the vacant Senate seat. Also, if Senator Mikulski retires in 2010, whom would you support or like to see run for the Senate seat...Lt Governor Anthony Brown, Doug Duncan, Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and Kweisi Mfume among others. Thank you Senator Cardin.

Sen. Ben Cardin: I strongly am hoping that Sen. Milkulski will continue to be the senior for Maryland for many years to come. She does a great job of representing the people of Maryland and the two of us work very well together.

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Columbia, Md.: Senator,

I saw you last year when you came to speak at the University of Maryland. At that time, you had indicated your support of legislation that would help students pay off increasingly large debts due to student loans. What are you doing now to support that cause? From your vantage point on the Hill, do you and your colleagues see the exorbitant amount that tuition has risen as well?

Sen. Ben Cardin: There is a major bill that's been passed by the Senate that would help students afford college education. The bill would limit the amount required for repayment based on income and would allow forgiveness for those who go into careers of public service. In addition, the legislation would increase Pell grants and would provide incentives for colleges to keep their costs down. It is the largest increase in federal funds to help students afford college since the GI bill after WWII. I'm a strong supporter of this legislation and yet I feel more needs to be done.

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Phoenix, Md.: Given your recent trip to Greenland and your support for emissions caps, what technologies and policies do you support for meeting increased energy demand?

Sen. Ben Cardin: First, I would start with conservation by requiring automobiles to get better gas mileage and more energy efficient requirement for buildings. I support greater incentives for alternative and renewable energy sources. I support federal research in discovering new ways to develop new sources of energy that are cleaner for our environment. All of these provisions were included in the energy bill that passed the U.S. Senate that I supported.

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Washington, D.C.: Thanks for taking the time for this chat.

Do you support the federal employee whistle blower protection law that was passed in the house this March (H.R. 985)? Are you committed to seeing that its companion legislation S.274, is passed during the next session? This legislation has currently been placed on hold by Senator Coburn.

Sen. Ben Cardin: Yes, I do support this legislation.

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Copenhagen, Denmark: Under what circumstances should the United States even consider the use of nuclear weapons?

Sen. Ben Cardin: Nuclear weapons should be for deterrent only.

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Adams Morgan, D.C.: As a constituent of yours for many years (before joining the disenfranchised here in D.C.) I was thrilled when you were elected to the Senate. What would you say has been the biggest difference -- occupationally -- since you've transitioned over to "the most exclusive club?"

Sen. Ben Cardin: I am continuously amazed by the individual reasonability that each senator has. A senator does not need to get approval from a rules committee to offer amendments or from a committee chairman to speak on a bill. A senator gets to serve on more committees than members of Congress and can deal with more issues. The obvious difference is that there are a lot fewer members of the Senate than there are in the House.

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Baltimore, Md.: Do you support term limits? If so, what would limits would you recommend for both the House and the Senate?

Sen. Ben Cardin: I do not support term limits. I believe that term limits would weaken the legislative branch of government and make the executive branch even stronger.

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Chevy Chase, Md.: As a lawyer yourself and member of the judiciary committee what things will you be looking for in judicial nominees especially appeals or Supreme court nominees?

Sen. Ben Cardin: I recently had to make that judgment in regards to the president's nomination of an appellate judge in Mississippi. The standards I used include not only the judge's background and experience and judicial temperament but also the judge's commitment to the principles in our Constitution to protect average citizens from the abuses of the government. In weighing those factors I voted against the confirmation of the Mississippi judge.

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Hagerstown, Md.: What have you personally done to change and transform the stagnant and idle political machinery of Washington? In your 2006 Senate campaign you ran very hard on the issue of lobbying and ethics reform. Have you drafted any bills to deal with the aforementioned subject?

Sen. Ben Cardin: The ethics bill that was just sent to the president includes provision that I worked on in the U.S. Senate. That bill includes many important provisions to strengthen the independence of members of Congress from lobbyists. I've also worked on many bills with my pledge to the people of Maryland to change our policy in Iraq, promote energy independence, improve quality education and provide for universal access to health insurance.

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Washington, D.C.: In one of the questions above, you stated your support for the Federal financing of elections. Given your support of that do you then find it at all unfortunate that in 2006 your Senate primary opponent, Kweisi Mfume, was outspent by you, at a ratio of about eight to one, and lost by less than four percent? Can such an election system be fair? Thank you.

Sen. Ben Cardin: There was a lot of money spent in my Senate campaign by people who ran against me. In fact, the Republican nominee had more money than I spent in the general election. I also had a primary opponent that contributed five million dollars of his own money to the campaign. I believe the people of our nation would be better served if those of use who ran for office would spend our time talking to the voters and explain our position on issues rather than raising money. I strongly support public financing of campaigns as the best way to achieve those objectives.

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Hyattsville, Md.: Senator, you and many of your Democratic colleagues asked gay and lesbian voters, and our families and friends to support your taking leadership in the Congress. Yet so far the Senate has taken no votes on equal rights legislation for gays and lesbians. When will you get around the ENDA and the gay-inclusive hate crimes bill in the Senate?

Sen. Ben Cardin: I am hopeful that the Senate will take up that legislation which I support. I really don't know the Senate's schedule as to when it's coming up but I would encourage the leadership to bring this matter to the Senate floor.

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Bethesda, Md.: Would you support the retrocession of Washington into Maryland in order to provide D.C. residents with full representation in both the Senate and the House?

Sen. Ben Cardin: As a state legislator I supported giving D.C. residents full representation in the both the House and Senate. I am supporting the bill currently pending in Congress to give the people of the District a voting representative in the House of Representatives.

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Bethesda, Md.: How can the United States protect itself against a flood of illegal aliens from the south and the threat to national security they potentially pose? Isn't our southern border a gateway for al-Qaeda?

Sen. Ben Cardin: I support strengthening border security. To date there's o evidence that the southern border has been penetrated by al-Qaeda. However, too many people enter our country illegally and that must stop. Therefore, we need to strengthen border security through better technology, personnel and facilities. I have supported such efforts in the Congress and will continue to do so.

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Calvert County, Md.: Sen. Cardin, I'm a Republican but voted for you in the last election primarily because I think the nation has lost its way on Iraq. Is there any indication that President Bush will listen to the American people and fix this mess? Thank you for continuing to support our troops in combat.

Sen. Ben Cardin: We'll have to wait and see what happens after Gen. Petraeus's report in September. To me it is obvious that the current strategy is not working and that we must remove our troops from the middle of a civil war. I hope the president will come to a similar conclusion in September but to date, there is no indication that the president will change course.

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Sen. Ben Cardin: Let me thank all who participated on this online exchange. It's helpful to me to hear concerns and I thank The Washington Post for making this available.

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