Chris Coons: “That is my understanding as well. There is no publicly articulated basis--certainly no basis that has anything do with…”

“That is my understanding as well. There is no publicly articulated basis--certainly no basis that has anything do with his qualifications, skills, experience or relevance to the job--as is the case with all three of these nominees. There are many other nominees we could be talking about, whether for judgeships, ambassadorships or senior positions. These three we have chosen to focus on today because they are so directly relevant to America's national security and to the successful enforcement of this complex nuclear deal with Iran. As I said, and Senator Shaheen and Senator Booker said earlier, the IAEA has incredibly broad scope to investigate what is going on in Iran, but if we don't have the senior people in our government, in the administration, that can take action when things are discovered in Iran that we want to be active in taking on or when there is bad behavior outside of this nuclear agreement, we have no one to blame but ourselves as a body for failing to provide our administration with the senior leadership and the skills and the resources needed to really defend America. I wish to encourage and invite my colleague from the State of Connecticut to add, as he wishes today, both the positives about implementation day and the concerns he might have going forward, such as these vital national security nominees whom Senator Shaheen and I have been discussing. Senator Murphy.”