Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I follow the strong remarks from my colleague from New Hampshire. I also note that we are joined by the Senator from Massachusetts, who has called out these delays from the very beginning, called out this what I will call a blockade. We thank Senator Reed for his leadership of this committee. These Senators here before us work every single day to make sure our military is strong. And what is going on with the Senator from Alabama, he has placed a reckless hold--a reckless hold--on the nominations of some of our Nation's finest public servants to more than 275 general and flag officer positions. These holds, as you have heard tonight, are preventing the Pentagon from executing smooth leadership transitions for the most critical roles in our Nation's security apparatus and leaving entire Agencies without leaders. I should note that our colleague from Alabama has not taken issue with the quality of these 275 candidates. In fact, some of these candidates were actually nominated for other positions by the previous President and earned bipartisan support. But our colleague from Alabama, for the reasons outlined by my friend from New Hampshire, is now holding the entire military chain of command hostage. When I was home this past weekend, when I was at festivals, when I was in parades, everyone knew someone, everyone knew someone at the Duluth Airshow that was being held up. Everyone had heard about it from their friends.…”