Senate Supports Prague Conference

The U.S. Senate on June 18 passed by unanimous consent a resolution in support of goals and objectives of the Prague Conference on Holocaust Era Assets. The resolution (S Con. Res. 23) was sponsored by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and 8 co-sponsors. It is the kind of symbolic message nobody objects to but that carries little weight. Still -- thanks, Senate, for paying attention.

The resolution includes language applauding the expansion of the original agenda to include the key issue of survivor welfare as a "major focus," but Cardin doesn't seem to have gotten the memo: in his statement for the record, the sponsor makes no reference to actual survivors or their urgent social, housing and health care needs, which would seem to be a key reason for holding the conference in the first place. Or is it?

The Senate resolution has been sent to the House for concurrence.