Benjamin L. Cardin has been in elected office pretty much his entire adult life, but he doesn’t have to reach far back in his memory to find what he describes as one of the most important pieces of legislation “ever to pass.”
The Democratic senior senator from Maryland, who will retire at the end of this term, has long been a supporter of Ukraine, so the aid package enacted in April after months of debate was a high point.
But it was also tinged with frustration, as opposition to foreign aid grows and college protesters appear laser-focused on the war between Israel and Hamas. To Cardin, who took over chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year after corruption charges engulfed Sen. Bob Menendez, the explanation is simple: People are forgetting history, and conversation has broken down.
