Political Quotes

“Mr. President, do I get a response from the Senator from Indiana? Mr. President, we have two qualified nominees, reported out on a bipartisan basis by the Armed Services Committee at a moment of heightened international tension. The Senator from Missouri--I said Indiana--I say the Senator from Missouri objected with no reason whatsoever. I asked him for his reasoning, and he did not respond; he walked out of the room. I don't understand such an irresponsible action. This is a matter of national security. We have no reason for this objection. I understand that he is objecting to all nominees at the Department of Defense because he is upset about accountability for the withdrawal from Afghanistan. We have taken action to deal with that question. In the National Defense Authorization Act that we just passed, there was a Commission created expressly to examine the issue of Afghanistan--how we got in, why we got in, what we did, how we left--on a bipartisan basis. I believe that was reported out by the committee unanimously in the National Defense Authorization Act after the committee's markup. So that is accountability. In addition, the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, which I also serve on, had at least 10--I think it was more like a dozen-- hearings on the withdrawal from Afghanistan in the latter part of 2021, before the end of the year--a dozen hearings.…”