{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/-inhofe-opening-statement-at-sasc-nominations-hearing", "Inhofe Opening Statement at SASC Nominations Hearing", "2014-12-02", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "OK", "James Inhofe", "I000024", "www.inhofe.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Inhofe Opening Statement at SASC Nominations Hearing\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTuesday, December 2, 2014\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), today made the following opening statement for a full SASC committee hearing to consider the nominations of Mr.\u00a0Robert M. Scher to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities;\u00a0Ms.\u00a0Elissa Slotkin to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs;\u00a0Mr.\u00a0David J. Berteau to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Material Readiness;\u00a0Ms.\u00a0Alissa M. Starzak to be General Counsel of the Department of the Army; and Admiral\u00a0Harry B. Harris, Jr., USN for reappointment to the grade of Admiral and to be Commander of United States Pacific Command.\u00a0\r\nAs prepared for delivery:\r\nThis will likely be Chairman Levin\u2019s last hearing, so I want to take a moment to thank him for his many years of friendship and service on this Committee.\r\nToday\u2019s nomination hearing comes at a precarious time. As we enter the last two years of this Administration, it\u2019s clear that their national security policies have been a disaster.\r\nIn the face of growing threats, the President has responded by dismantling our military, appeasing our adversaries, abandoning our partners, and refusing to implement a new National Security Strategy.\r\nRather than take responsibility and change course, he is doubling down on his failed policies and blaming the Secretary of Defense, who was expected to work with both hands tied behind his back with an inadequate budget and in a strategy vacuum.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\nFrankly, with the handicaps the President has put in place for his Secretary of Defense, worrying about who sits in that position is like worrying how the deck chairs on the Titanic are arranged.\u00a0\r\nSix years into this Administration, we still have no coherent strategy for the Middle East, no effective plan to deter Russia, China, Iran and ISIS, and no overarching National Security Strategy to address an increasingly complex threat landscape.\u00a0\r\nThe New York Times reports that when Susan Rice, Obama\u2019s National Security Advisor, was asked why there hasn\u2019t been a new National Security Strategy in four years, she said \u201cIf we had put it out in February or April or July, it would have been overtaken by events two weeks later.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\r\nSusan Rice admits she can\u2019t build a strategy that can last more than two weeks.\u00a0 If the President wanted to change the disastrous course we\u2019re on, he should\u2019ve fired Susan Rice last week, not the Secretary of Defense.\r\nInstead, he\u2019s hiding behind one of the most dangerously insular White House\u2019s in recent history - afraid of criticism and disconnected from reality.\u00a0\r\nHe\u2019s relying on his political and media advisors instead of his military leaders to guide our national security, and as a result, we continue to lurch from crisis to crisis.\r\nOne of the most glaring examples has been the President\u2019s approach to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.\r\nWhen President Obama was asked on August 6th of this year whether the U.S. should finally provide lethal assistance to Ukraine given Russian troop movements and the tanks, artillery, and rockets Putin has given the separatists, he said no, but added (quote):\u00a0 \u201cNow, if you start seeing an invasion by Russia, that\u2019s obviously a different set of questions. We\u2019re not there yet.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 That was in August.\u00a0 I guess the President forgot that Russia invaded and formally annexed Crimea 5 months earlier in March.\u00a0And after Russian troops invaded Eastern Ukraine for a second time at the end of August, I guess we were still \u201cnot there yet\u201d. And after President Poroshenko came and addressed a joint session of Congress on September 18th and said \u201cBlankets and night-vision goggles are important, but one cannot win a war with blankets,\u201d I guess we were still \u201cnot there yet\u201d.\r\nWithout a strategy to deter Putin, I\u2019m not sure we\u2019ll ever get there. As President Obama sits on the sidelines, Putin continues to de-Reaganize Europe. When I was in Lithuania in October, I talked to the leaders of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and they are convinced that Putin is coming after them next.\u00a0 \u00a0\r\nIt\u2019s clear that Russia, China, Iran and ISIS see weakness and the President\u2019s hollow rhetoric has not deterred them from taking ever more aggressive action at the expense of our security.\u00a0\r\nAnd it\u2019s not just me who thinks this.\u00a0 I hear constantly when I travel that our friends don\u2019t trust us and our enemies don\u2019t fear us.\u00a0\r\nWe need a better plan.\u00a0 We need to restore funding to our armed forces, we need a National Security Strategy that is driven by the threats we face, and we need to stand with our allies and partners against the tyrants and terrorists who threaten our shared security.\u00a0\r\nFor as long as I can remember, the American people have expected the men and women of their military to be the best trained and best equipped fighting force in the world, able to overwhelm any adversary at any time.\u00a0\r\nThe President\u2019s misplaced spending priorities and absolute lack of strategic guidance are forcing this distinction to slip from our grasp.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/-inhofe-opening-statement-at-sasc-nominations-hearing"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.147505059838295, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}