On April 12th, Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Todd Young (R-IN) led a letter to Senate State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee leadership, along with 43 of their colleagues, an increase from the 44 signatures last year. The letter supports $290 million for State Department humanitarian demining and weapons security programs worldwide.
The funding supported in the letter is $25.897 million above last year’s appropriation, and that increase would be instrumental in helping CWD partners, including HALO, to save more lives and help more people. The letter also calls for increased demining funding for Ukraine, Nagorno Karabakh, Angola, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
HALO thanks Senators Van Hollen and Young for their leadership, as well as the other 43 Senators who signed their support for such critical programs. This funding will help protect civilians from landmines and save thousands of lives, kickstart economic development, and support U.S. national security.
Read The Letter and Signatories Here
The Senators who signed the letter include: Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Sen. Todd Young, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Sen. Michael Bennet, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Sherrod Brown, Sen. Maria Cantwell, Sen. Ben Cardin, Sen. Bob Casey, Sen. Tom Carper, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Maggie Hassan, Sen. Martin Heinrich, Sen. John Hickenlooper, Sen. Mazie Hirono, Sen. Tim Kaine, Sen. Mark Kelly, Sen. Angus King, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Ben Ray Luján, Sen. Ed Markey, Sen. Jeff Merkley, Sen. Chris Murphy, Sen. Jon Ossoff, Sen. Alex Padilla, Sen. Gary Peters, Sen. Jack Reed, Sen. Jacky Rosen, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Brian Schatz, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Sen. Tina Smith, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Sen. Jon Tester, Sen. Mark Warner, Sen. Raphael Warnock, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Peter Welch, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Sen. Ron Wyden