Ben Cardin — profile dossier

Pandemic-program role: Ranking Member, then Chair, of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship; one of the four Senate authors of PPP. Institution - office: U.S. Senate - Maryland - Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee - Type: elected official Tenure (relief-relevant): Senator from Maryland, 2007 – January 2025 (House historian biography); Small Business Committee ranking member during the original PPP design and chair from 2021 (committee releases 007 and 054).

Who they are

Benjamin Louis Cardin is a Maryland Democrat who served in the Maryland House of Delegates, the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate (House historian biography).¹ The committee's March 2021 release names him as one of the four Senate authors of PPP,² and its 2020–21 releases record his statements on access, transparency and program extension.

Pandemic-relief role

Cardin's March 25, 2020 committee release says Cardin, Rubio, Susan Collins, and Jeanne Shaheen secured $377 billion for small businesses in the CARES Act package. It also itemizes the small-business title: nearly $350 billion for PPP, $10 billion for EIDL advances, $17 billion for SBA debt relief, and $275 million for counseling infrastructure.⁴

The same release said the bill required SBA to cap bank processing earnings and prioritize underserved borrowers including rural communities, minorities, women, and veterans.⁴ On May 28, 2020, Cardin and Rubio welcomed a $10 billion PPP set-aside for CDFIs; Cardin called the announcement "though long overdue … a welcome step in the right direction" for minority communities facing both public-health and economic harm.⁵

In 2020 he released a plan with Cory Booker to prevent underserved and underbanked businesses from falling further behind, and criticized what he described as the Trump administration's lack of transparency in PPP implementation.⁶⁷

In 2021, as committee chair, he joined Collins and Shaheen on the PPP Extension Act. The committee release says the bill extended the PPP application deadline to May 31, 2021 and gave SBA an added 30 days to process pending applications. It also states that Collins, Cardin, Shaheen, and Rubio authored the PPP, which became law as part of the CARES Act.²

Documents and actions

March 25, 2020: announced the bipartisan Senate small-business package with Rubio, Collins, and Shaheen; described PPP, EIDL advances, SBA debt relief, counseling grants, borrower-priority language, and fee caps.⁴
May 2020: released and supported proposals focused on underserved and underbanked small businesses.⁷
May 28, 2020: joined Rubio in welcoming the $10 billion CDFI set-aside for PPP.⁵
June 2020: criticized PPP transparency and discussed the status of COVID small-business relief programs in committee/floor materials.⁶
March 2021: introduced the PPP Extension Act with Collins and Shaheen; the committee release describes the four original PPP authors and the 2021 deadline extension mechanics.²

Career after / where they are now

Cardin left the Senate in January 2025 (House historian biography and Maryland State Archives entry).¹⁸ He then joined Johns Hopkins University as a Distinguished Senior Fellow for 2026 (JHU SNF Agora announcement).³

Sources held in this archive

Original source documents and archived captures

Sources

U.S. House History, Art & Archives, "CARDIN, Benjamin Louis." Benjamin Louis Cardin (US House History, Art & Archives) (original: history.house.gov · stored capture) ↩
Senate Small Business Committee, "Cardin, Collins & Shaheen Introduce Bill to Extend PPP," Mar. 11, 2021. Local archive: 054 www sbc senate gov public index cfm-2021-3-cardin collins shaheen introduce bill to extend ppp ↩
Johns Hopkins SNF Agora Institute, "Former U.S. Senator Ben Cardin Joins Johns Hopkins University as Distinguished Senior Fellow for 2026." Former U.S. Senator Ben Cardin Joins Johns Hopkins University (original: snfagora.jhu.edu) ↩
Senate Small Business Committee, "Cardin, Bipartisan Senate Task Force Secure $377 Billion for Small Businesses," Mar. 25, 2020. Local archive: 007 www sbc senate gov public index cfm-2020-3-cardin bipartisan senate task force secure-377-billion for small businesses ↩
Senate Small Business Committee, "Cardin, Rubio Welcome SBA & Treasury's PPP Set-Aside for CDFIs," May 28, 2020. Local archive: 019 www sbc senate gov public index cfm-2020-5-cardin rubio welcome sba treasury s ppp set aside for cdfis ↩
Senate Small Business Committee, Cardin PPP transparency and floor-remarks captures, June 2020. Local archives: 027 www sbc senate gov public index cfm-2020-6-cardin statement on trump administration s lack of transparency in ppp implementation; 029 www sbc senate gov public index cfm-2020-6-cardin floor remarks on status of covid-19-small business relief programs ↩
Senate Small Business Committee, "Cardin, Booker Release Plan to Prevent Underserved, Underbanked Small Businesses from Falling Further Behind," May 2020. Local archive: 022 www sbc senate gov public index cfm-2020-5-cardin booker release plan to prevent underserved underbanked small businesses from falling further behind ↩
Maryland State Archives, "Benjamin L. Cardin, U.S. Senator (Maryland)." Benjamin L. Cardin, U.S. Senator (Maryland) (original: msa.maryland.gov · stored capture) ↩