Political Quotes

“reserving the right to be object, as I described minutes ago, the Biden administration is in outright defiance of Federal law. An overwhelming bipartisan majority of the Senate and the House have passed tough sanctions on Russia--sanctions that work; sanctions that shut down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline for a year. But when President Biden came into office, he chose to override Federal law and instead to give a multibillion-dollar gift to Vladimir Putin in Russia. That decision is a generational geopolitical mistake. It harms U.S. national security interests, it benefits Russia, and it hurts Europe. Moreover, my hold on these nominations, I have expressed to the administration in writing and orally over a month ago. They have a path to lifting the hold on the Treasury Department nominees and the career State Department nominees simply by either enforcing sanctions under CAATSA on Russia or overriding those sanctions and triggering a vote in this body where Members of this body can register our views on whether Joe Biden is correct in giving this multibillion-dollar gift to Vladimir Putin that undermines our national security. Accordingly, I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. The Senator from New Jersey.”