On the recordMarch 17, 2022
in the interest of comity, I will underscore three points of agreement from Senator Murphy's last few minutes there, as well, just as a way to close us out. No. 1, I agree with the Senator that there is a lot of grandstanding all over political theater right now, and that certainly includes people on my side of the aisle who have tried to imply that pieces of this are President Biden's fault that aren't President Biden's fault; that the evildoer here is Vladimir Putin, who is targeting women and children; and Americans should be on the same team against that evil. So to the degree that the Senator is partly motivated by frustration with some grandstanding that he has seen by people who have an ``R'' behind their name, I agree. Second point: I am for this funding, and my criticism of the Biden administration has not been because they wouldn't support funding. In the intel space, there are a whole bunch of arguments and fights we have been having that we can't talk about in this setting but where I just want them to go faster. But the idea that the problem with the administration, from my point of view, is an unwillingness to fund--that isn't my position, and so the Senator and I are united that that would be an unfair criticism of the Biden administration.…





