Tim Kaine: “I was not intending to speak. As the Presiding Officer knows, I was presiding, and she was kind to spell me. Yet, as I…”

“I was not intending to speak. As the Presiding Officer knows, I was presiding, and she was kind to spell me. Yet, as I was hearing colleagues talk on the floor about the state of our country, what I was hearing from my Republican colleagues were words like ``malaise,'' ``funk,'' ``disaster,'' and I was seeing visuals of a house on fire. So I was compelled to stand and just offer a few extemporaneous remarks. I don't think America is a disaster. I don't think America is on fire. I don't think America is in a deep, unyielding malaise. I have heard colleagues talk about the situation in the world and use the ``appeasement'' word. I have heard language, both in committee hearings this morning and here on the floor, that I would characterize as a kind of a ``blame America first'' attitude. If something is going on--if a dictator like Vladimir Putin acts in a horrific way--it has got to be America's fault. It has got to be Joe Biden's fault. I don't think our instinct should be to blame America first when dictators in the world undertake despicable actions. What I have noticed in these comments today in trashing our President and in trashing the country--sort of a cherry-picking of evidence--is that my colleagues have brought up some things that are really very legitimate concerns. Inflation is a very, very legitimate concern that has to be addressed. Yet I have listened to these speeches, and not one has talked about record job growth.…”