Political Quotes

“the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing on Russia's role in Syria and the broader Middle East that had been scheduled for last week has been postponed; therefore, I rise today to raise awareness on the danger and urgency of the moment, given the impending humanitarian catastrophe in Idlib, Syria, and the refusal of the Trump administration to impose meaningful costs on Russia for protecting Bashar al-Assad and his regime. On Syria, Congress again finds itself in a situation where we often hear more from the press than we do directly from the administration. Last week many of us read with interest in the Washington Post a report that President Trump agreed to a new strategy for Syria that indefinitely extends the U.S. military presence and supports a major diplomatic push to end the conflict. This same article also indicated that the administration views the military campaign against ISIS as nearly complete and that U.S. goals have now shifted to Iran's presence in Syria given the doubts that Russia is willing and capable of ejecting Iran from Syria. Congress and the American people deserve to hear directly from the Trump administration whether in fact this is our new strategy. When this hearing is rescheduled, I expect the administration to explain in detail its proposed diplomatic engagement and the plan for U.S. forces in Syria after ISIS is defeated.…”