Chris Coons

Japan is the most popular country. Again, a big asset in our partnership.

Japan is actually a larger investor in infrastructure around the region than China.

I think that will continue, and that will certainly be, if I am confirmed, a hallmark of what I try to do, speaking directly to the Chinese Government in Beijing.

I think they need to hear directly from our legislative branch on these issues.

It is my honor to call this hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to order.

We need to have some working relationship with them to secure the safe passage out of thousands of people who we still care deeply about

There is about 550 employees and family members from Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, who were not evacuated.

I had hoped this committee would rise above the temptations of partisan politics and use this hearing to consider the urgent questions still before us.

So if you would take the 4 minutes we have got left and explore with me how do we ensure safe passage across land borders.

There is, I think, significant leverage that we and other countries hold when it comes to things that the Taliban says it wants.

The Department committed to evacuating our partners from NED, the National Endowment for Democracy, NDI, IRI.

69 senators, which means 19 Republicans, including Senator Mitch McConnell, voted for the infrastructure deal, even knowing that we were going to immediately move towards this more partisan way that we're going to be able to enact…

Look, there's a lot to work out here, because we're going to raise taxes on corporations that don't pay any taxes, on the very wealthiest Americans, in order to meet President Biden's commitment that Americans making under $400,000 a year…

This is a big win for the American people, for Democrats, for Republicans, for President Biden, and for the idea that we can still work together, to solve the problems that face working people across our country.

It's going to cut costs for working families.

If it wasn’t for that boat and for that meeting place, the infrastructure bill might not have happened.

The American public often is much more skeptical about the commitment of U.S. forces abroad than this body is

If you want that kind of power on the books and you do not want to vote again... that is giving up a huge amount of power.

The difficulty of passing authorizations of military force is not an excuse to grant wholesale new powers to the Administration

I appreciate your articulated commitment to finding a way to craft an AUMF that is narrower, more specific, that has a clear process for adding territories or groups and that would include an end date.

It is important that the American people know this is a vote about a war that has long been over.

I think Senator Romney is right that passing future AUMFs will be difficult, but for good reason.

It is my hope that we will proceed to take this important first step and repeal these two outdated and no longer relevant or necessary AUMFs.

We are a State of neighbors, a State that cares about solving problems and doing the right thing.

If confirmed, I will support the United States' ongoing efforts to rally international pressure on the Ortega-Murillo Government.