Monrovia – A United States Congressional delegation arrives in Liberia today on a three-day visit that is expected to include talks with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and senior Liberian government officials.
The delegation includes Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts, as well as Representatives Karen Bass of California, and Carolyn Maloney of New York.
In addition to Liberia, the delegation will make stops in Cape Verde, Senegal, and Nigeria to assess United States diplomatic, defense and development activities in the West African Sub-Region.
Discussions with Liberian government officials will focus on a range of issues, including bilateral development assistance to Liberia and security cooperation between the two countries. The visit will also provide members of the delegation an opportunity to examine the United States Government’s broad efforts to help Liberia peacefully manage its first post-war transition of presidential power.
In a statement issued shortly before their departure from Washington, DC last week, members of the delegation noted that the four countries they had chosen to visit were at different stages of democratic development, but collectively represent the challenges and opportunities that the people of West Africa face as they strive to build secured, stable and prosperous societies.
Markey, a Democrat, has been the junior senator from Massachusetts since Jul 16, 2013 (next election in 2020).
He was previously the representative for Massachusetts’s 5th congressional district (2013-2013); and the representative for Massachusetts’s 7th congressional district (1975-2012).
Bass represents California’s 37th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives; she was first elected in 2010.
First elected to Congress in 1992, Maloney is recognized as a national leader with extensive accomplishments on financial services, national security, the economy, and women’s issues. She is a senior member of both the House Financial Services Committee (where she serves as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets) and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and the Ranking House member of the Joint Economic Committee. In the House Democratic Caucus, she serves as a Regional Whip (she served as Vice-Chair of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee in the 112th Congress). Maloney has authored and passed more than 70 measures, either as stand-alone bills or as language incorporated into larger bills. Ten bills Maloney authored or co-authored were signed into law at formal Presidential Signing Ceremonies, either as a standalone bill or part of a larger bill.
