Risch talked with Brett Baier in the Fox News Sunday classroom. He expressed dismay at how things are going on the new Iran nuclear deal, noting that US representatives aren't even doing the negotiating. Since the Iranians refuse to talk with us, they're working with European, Russian, and Chinese teams, while we wait for updates. Risch seems to think this whole thing is a waste of time, saying unless they get an actual treaty, rather than an executive agreement, it
will not last past the next Republican president that's elected, just as the last deal didn't last the minute that the Republicans took over.
Shifting to Ukraine, he thinks we must "be wary" of getting into direct confrontation with Russia, although he suggests the "ineptness" they've shown so far might lead to a quick end if we did. He also said the Biden administration "has projected weakness throughout," and that they've only done stuff after our allies stepped up first.
Look, when you're dealing with these people, if you project weakness, you're going to have a real problem. And that's going on with both Iran and with Russia right now and it is a serious situation. We need them to project some strength.
Finally, Risch told Baier he voted against the omnibus spending bill, with its billions for Ukraine, because of a bunch of "other pork" in the bill. He mentioned "earmarks, for crying out loud," and "some gun legislation... that a couple of the gun lobbies were very much against... some provisions in there that a number of the pro-life groups were against."
Whenever we have these doggone big bills, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, whether you vote yes or no. But I -- I have -- I hope that no one would take this as not being the support for -- for the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian war.
I've said that myself, many times before.
Portman and Klobuchar spoke separately from Poland with Dana Bash on CNN's State of the Union; both were asked about our refusing Poland's offer to send Russian MiG-29s to Ukraine via our base in Germany.
Portman was somewhat encouraged by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's message about the US providing Ukraine with anti-aircraft systems, but I feel he thinks it's the least we can do, Putin
...escalating every single day by coming into Ukraine with these weapons. There's discussion, as you know, of them using vacuum bombs and cluster bombs...against civilian targets. This is an illegal, this is a brutal, totally unprovoked attack. And, increasingly, they're choosing civilian targets...
He said if we give Ukraine "the ability to try to stop some of this Russian superiority" in airpower, we might be able to "end up with a peaceful solution to this." If not, that'll be less likely.
Klobuchar thinks "one of the things that Jake (Sullivan) is getting at" it that, with all the focus on the planes (Fantasy Island comes to mind), is that "they...could become a target." Although she supported the plane deal -she spoke with Biden about them - she pointed out that the goal is air defense, not planes. And,
...part of this is figuring out how you best get things -- and it's not always in public sight, because then they become themselves targets -- how you best get air defense over to (Ukraine) in a way that's most effective, so that they can move things around the country, which they're doing incredibly well. And some of the easiest things to move around are drones, which have taken down aircraft, and other anti-aircraft weapons that have been very effective. And we must continue.
Klobuchar talked about the Russian attack on the NATO training base near the Polish border, calling it "very provocative." She also spoke about the over 1.5 million refugees who have been welcomed into Poland. Bash noted the new numbers from the UN, showing 2.7 million people have fled Ukraine overall.
She was supportive of the aid money approved by Congress (nearly $14B, according to reports), and how "more and more nonprofits" are getting medical supplies in, saying "there's truck after truck after truck." At the same time, she expressed concern about the Russians and about keeping supply lines open.
... they seem to show no limits, whether it is hitting a maternity hospital or hitting religious institutions, whether it is going after civilian apartment buildings...that's one of the reasons that people aren't always revealing how all of these -- this humanitarian aid, as well as military assistance, is getting through the borders, because of the simple fact that the Russians are looking to attack anything and everything...
Speaking of supply chains, Bash and Portman touched on that subject here in the states when they talked about how the Biden administration has handled oil and natural gas. Portman feels Biden has created a "lack of certainty and a real concern" which is hindering companies from investing in production now. And, he added,
...what we should be doing is continuing to produce as much oil and gas as we can right now, because it's a national security, as well as an economic security issue, at the same time continue our work on renewables, continue to try to make that transition. But we're not ready for that transition. And so, in the meantime, we have got to be able to be energy independent again.
We'll leave it there, although I wish Bash had asked him exactly how he defines 'energy independent,' since that's key to any discussion on this issue.
Coming up in your Extra Credit? Highlights from the pundit panels.
See you around campus.
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