Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank Senator Booker for his kind words about the committee. I want to commit that we will continue to work in a bipartisan fashion. On the other hand, we have a disagreement here regarding this particular person. He is a well-qualified career State Department nominee. He has been nominated, of course, to be Ambassador of Pakistan. Ambassador Todd is a career member of senior executive service. He is well qualified to serve as the Ambassador. He is currently serving as the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Management. He has a wealth of experience, having previously served as Ambassador twice, to Cambodia and Brunei. His qualifications notwithstanding, now is really not the time to leave the ambassadorship and the mission in Islamabad vacant. The others we have are also good. I don't think that it is unfair to ask that we have a trade of five for one. In any event, we respectfully disagree at this point. I have no doubt, as we move forward, we will have other things we do agree on, but at this time, I am going to continue to object to the five. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.”