Political Quotes

“Mr. President, our Navy and Marine Corps are the best in the world, but we face many challenges across the globe. We need to build new ships and maintain our current fleet. We need to recruit, train, and equip a force necessary to deter conflict, especially in the Indo-Pacific. We need to help keep sea lanes open for commerce and build deeper relationships with our allies and our partners. To make sure that the Navy is able to carry out all military and civilian objectives, we allocate a lot of money for its budget. A Comptroller is critical to ensuring the accountability of taxpayer dollars and to keeping the Navy's readiness at the highest level. Russell Rumbaugh, the nominee for this position, will bring firsthand knowledge to the job, having previously served as both special assistant to the Director and as an operations research analyst in the Secretary of Defense's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation Office. In having served as an Army infantry officer, Mr. Rumbaugh has had a unique perspective that will help him to support and strengthen our Navy, but his nomination is stuck because the Senator from Missouri is blocking it over disagreements, not with Russell Rumbaugh and not even necessarily with the Department of the Navy but with the Biden administration and Afghanistan policy. I know because we have been here before, actually, Senator Hawley and I, I think, three times. This is the third time. I know what he is going to do today.…”