Political Quotes

“Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am going to continue to propound these unanimous consent requests in the same form as the chairman of the Committee, but before I do, just a few brief remarks. I know the hour is late. First of all, it is wonderful to hear this revisionist history about the Trump administration's disposition towards Russia. Everybody knows what was going on. This was an administration that was practically sycophantish towards the Russian regime, refused over and over again to stand up in any meaningful way. That is why the pipeline got so far along. It was the eleventh hour when the Trump administration, at the very last minute, decided to move forward on sanctions. We are not here to paint the merits of the Trump administration's decisionmaking on Russia policy. But suffice it to say, Russia did very well expanding its influence around the region during the 4 years that Donald Trump was in office. Second, the effects of holding up all of these nominees is to kneecap American national security. Never, ever before has a President had so few nominees confirmed to key national security posts than this President. It has never happened before. It is true that there is a history in this body of individual Senators placing a temporary hold on one or maybe two officials relevant to the policy over which they are having a disagreement with the administration. Probably many Members of this body have done that.…”