'Completely ridiculous' and 'preposterous': Hawaii lawmaker torches Josh Hawley on Senate floor
09 April 2022
A Hawaii lawmaker recently called out Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) with a stinging rebuke of his vow to block all future nominees for the U.S. Department of Defense until there is "a change" in the country's foreign policy.
On Thursday, April 7, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) delivered his remarks from the Senate floor. Schatz's latest fiery remarks come months after Hawley first declared that he would not support nominees until U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and State Department and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken resigned.
During the lawmakers' hearing on Thursday, Hawley did exactly that when he blocked Christopher Lowman, President Joe Biden's nominee for assistant secretary for sustainment. According to Hawley, the United States foreign policy has a "Joe Biden problem." However, Schatz argues otherwise.
In his speech, Schatz argued that Hawley is "damaging the Department of Defense" as he claimed his defense is "completely ridiculous" and "preposterous."
Here is the full transcript of Schatz's statement:
"So, what Senator Hawley wants is to go through his litany of criticisms of the Biden administration, and the truth is that every senator has that right without blocking the logistics guy from the Department of Defense. He could’ve brought his floor charts out here and given a withering speech about all of the things he thought went wrong. But he’s doing a very specific thing. He is damaging the Department of Defense. We have senior DoD leaders, we have the Armed Services Committee coming to us and saying, “I don’t know what to tell him, I don’t know how to satisfy him, but he is blocking the staffing of the senior leadership at the Department of Defense.”
And this comes from a guy who raised his fist in solidarity with the insurrectionists. And this comes from a guy who, before the Russian invasion, suggested that maybe it would be wise for Zelensky to make a few concessions about Ukraine and their willingness to join NATO. This comes from a guy who just about a month ago voted against Ukraine aid! He’s saying it’s going too slow. He voted “no”! He voted “no” on Ukraine aid and now he has the gall to say it’s going too slow!
And this final insult is that until, what, Secretary Austin resigns? That’s not a serious request. People used to come to me during the Trump administration all the time. “Do you think Trump should resign? Do you think Tillerson should resign?”
That’s a stupid–”Of course I think all the people I disagree should quit their jobs and be replaced with people I love. Of course I think they should all resign.” That’s not how this world works. That is not a reasonable request from a United States senator that, “Until the secretary of defense quits his job, I’m going to block all of his nominees.” That’s preposterous!And coming from a person who exonerated Donald Trump for extorting Zelensky for withholding lethal aid? They withheld lethal aid until, unless Zelensky would release false smears against Joe Biden’s son. And then he voted to exonerate President Trump for this. And so spare me the new solidarity with the Ukrainians and with the free world because this man’s record is exactly the opposite.I yield the floor.