Rob Portman

It is a time where the economic statecraft is mixed with the diplomacy that we are normally more engaged in.

I continue to have a deep concern that we do not have somebody there on a permanent basis leading that organization at a time when its mission is so important.

We have done everything we can to discourage our European allies from using China's telecommunications sector, Huawei and others, because of concerns about what that means for security.

We are begging the Europeans to do the right thing and stop feeding the war machine with sending $870 million a day.

We have got to help Romania with this, and it is absolutely essential to Moldova also.

Us having a more aggressive and realistic economic aspect to our diplomacy.

We have had a large increase, relatively speaking, in the number of people who we find on the Terror Watch List who are coming across our Southwest Border.

I understand you want to have the right technology and you want to be able to respond to the ever-changing biothreats.

First, I want to thank my colleague and cofounder and cochair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus for his comments today. What you just heard was that the White House has sent the application for membership to NATO for Finland and Sweden to the…

D.C. is experiencing a crime surge. There have been over 200 more armed robberies this year than last year at this time.

At the beginning of this year there were more than 10,000 criminal cases pending. That is more than double the number from 2020.

If confirmed you will be doing something very important which is to serve the people of D.C. but also get the backlog down and deal with a public safety crisis.

I think government has an important, but limited, role in people's lives and people need to be able to interact with it efficiently.

I hope you will, should you be confirmed--I think you will be--once you are there that you will dig into this issue and give us advice as to how those sanctions can be effectively tightened.

I believe our sanctions are not having the impact that we had intended.

The untold suffering that is occurring in Ukraine

Your leadership and commitment to public service is inspirational, particularly with the national security challenges facing our country.

I hope that you will strongly support the aid package from Congress to continue our help for all the reasons you just stated, that this is a crucial time in Ukraine and to keep pressure on Russia.

I think by continuing to do what we are doing right now, which is exacting a cost on the battlefield.

We should not confirm anyone as U.S. Ambassador to Russia who is untested or unqualified.

It is my honor to be here to introduce a fellow Ohioan, Ambassador Lynne Tracy, to be the nominee for Russia.

I want to hear what we are going to do to try to help Estonia even more to push back on again the threats that they are facing, including cyber threats.

I look forward to continuing to stay in touch.

Seeing the recent photographs of Bakhmut are heartbreaking. That part of the country has been utterly destroyed by Russia's brutal assaults.

I appreciate that Estonia has been a valuable NATO partner and ally to Ukraine, contributing more military aid per capita than any other country.