18th May 2022

On May 20th, Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Todd Young (R-IN) led a letter to Senate State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee leadership with support from 42 of their colleagues supporting $290 million for the State Department’s Conventional Weapons Destruction (CWD) account. This account funds humanitarian demining and weapons security programs worldwide.

If fulfilled, this would provide a $35.297 million in crucial program above last year’s appropriation. The letter also calls for increased demining funding for Ukraine, Nagorno Karabakh, Afghanistan, Angola, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. 

“I would like to thank Senators Van Hollen and Young for championing the cause of landmine and explosive ordnance removal. These weapons are indiscriminate and every single day, innocent civilians fall victim to wartime explosives. The Senators who signed onto this letter are saving the lives of thousands, allowing people to pull themselves out of poverty, and bolstering U.S. national security. By showing their support for these programs, the lawmakers who signed this letter have taken us one step further in the direction of a world without landmines."

Kristen Stevens, Head of Congressional Affairs, The HALO Trust (USA)

Click here to read the full letter

The Senators who signed onto the letter include: Tammy Baldwin, Michael Bennet, Dick Blumenthal, Cory Booker, Sherrod Brown, Maria Cantwell, Ben Cardin, Tom Carper, Bob Casey, Catherine Cortez Masto, Tammy Duckworth, Dick Durbin, Dianne Feinstein, Kirsten Gillibrand, Maggie Hassan, Martin Heinrich, John Hickenlooper, Mazie Hirono, Tim Kaine, Mark Kelly, Angus King, Amy Klobuchar, Ben Lujan, Ed Markey, Jeff Merkley, Chris Murphy, Jon Ossoff, Alex Padilla, Gary Peters, Jack Reed, Bernie Sanders, Brian Schatz, Jeanne Shaheen, Kyrsten Sinema, Tina smith, Debbie Stabenow, Jon Tester, Chris Van Hollen, Mark Warner, Raphael Warnock, Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse, Ron Wyden, Todd Young