42 Senators Sign Letter Supporting Increased Funding for Demining

On May 22nd, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), along with 41 colleagues, submitted a letter to the Senate State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, encouraging support for humanitarian demining and weapons security programs.

The letter requested $290 million for State Department Conventional Weapons Destruction programs worldwide, which includes demining, UXO clearance, risk education, and weapons and ammunition management. Along with a specific $80 million allocation for clearing explosives in Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, the letter calls for increased demining funding for Angola, Zimbabwe, and Sri Lanka, as well as sustained support for Ukraine. The funding supported in the letter would be instrumental in allowing HALO and other demining partners to continue and expand our life-saving work.

Thank you to all the Senators who signed this letter, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Sen. Alex Padilla, Sen. Tina Smith, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Chris Murphy, Sen. Adam Schiff, Sen. Tim Kaine, Sen. Ruben Gallego, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen. John Hickenlooper, Sen. Martin Heinrich, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Sen. Mazie Hirono, Sen. Ben Ray Luján, Sen. Maria Cantwell, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Angus King, Sen. Raphael Warnock, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Sen. Mark Kelly, Sen. Jeff Merkley, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Sen. Jacky Rosen, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, Sen. Andy Kim, Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Sen. Jack Reed, Sen. Maggie Hassan, Sen. Chris Coons, Sen. Jon Ossoff, Sen. Peter Welch, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Ed Markey, Sen. Mark Warner, Sen. Gary Peters, Sen. Michael Bennet, Sen. Elissa Slotkin.

Read the full text of the letter here.