Political Quotes

“I rise to speak about the President's action last week stepping away from certifying Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal that was negotiated between the U.S. allies and the nation of Iran. National security is about military power, but there is more to it than that. America's strength also comes from the power to use diplomacy. In October 1945, President Harry Truman, my favorite President, changed the seal of the Office of the President to have the eagle face the olive branches of diplomacy instead of the arrows of war, signifying that America would also prefer that we use diplomacy first. In modern times, our judgments to go to war rather than use diplomacy have been flawed. Under this administration, diplomacy, in my view, is under assault, and that is why I rise today. We see a decimated State in the USAID budget. We see bellicose rhetoric from the President. We see efforts to undermine, publicly, American diplomats engaged in negotiations. We see the refusal to even nominate key State Department diplomatic appointees. As of last week, the administration has not put forward a nominee for approximately 52 percent of high-level positions at the State Department that require approval by the Senate. Thirty-two countries do not yet have Ambassadors in place, and that includes no nomination from the White House for Ambassadors to key countries like South Korea, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.…”