María Elvira Salazar: “let me first say I am pleased and honored to be here with Senator Warner and Senator Collins and Senator Nelson. It was…”

“let me first say I am pleased and honored to be here with Senator Warner and Senator Collins and Senator Nelson. It was about a year or so ago that Senator Levin and Senator Warner led a CODEL of Senators into Iraq and Afghanistan. I had the great fortune of traveling with both Senator Warner and Senator Levin on that CODEL. I learned a tremendous amount from them in terms of what it is they had seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, the observations they made about where we were on the levels of violence in Iraq. I came away from that CODEL with them feeling as if they truly had the best interests of America at heart. As they have sponsored these resolutions today, what they are acting out here is in the best fashion of what a Senator should do, and that is trying to do the best for our country. Let me say, first of all, with respect to the resolution that was heard earlier today in the Foreign Relations Committee, sponsored by Senator Levin and Senator Biden and Senator Hagel, I very much appreciate their leadership and thinking and the passion they brought to the debate and to this issue.”