VIDEO: ICYMI: Auchincloss on Austin Waiver: “Joe Biden is not Donald Trump”
Washington, D.C. - This morning, Congressman Jake Auchincloss (D, MA-04), a Major in the Marine reserves, joined Kasie Hunt on MSNBC’s “Way Too Early” to announce his decision to support the waiver that would allow Lloyd Austin to serve as the next Secretary of Defense. Auchincloss discussed trusting President Biden in these unprecedented times and the future of defense in the United States.
WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6vGgbqa3qE
KEY EXCERPTS:
On Supporting Austin Waiver:
“I’m going to vote in favor of the waiver - but I don’t think my colleagues are wrong to have serious concerns about granting these waivers. For four years we’ve seen unprecedented politicization of the military - our institutions have been under attack. We are raw and fragile as a democracy right now and every consideration must be given to civilian control of the military. But Joe Biden is not Donald Trump. Donald Trump got a waiver because he needed adult supervision in the National Command Authority. Joe Biden is going to get a waiver because we’re facing a series of cascading crises. America has said they need Joe Biden to help steer the ship and Joe Biden has said he needs Lloyd Austin to help him do that.”
On Pentagon Transition:
“These reports that Trump officials and the Pentagon have delayed briefings and have obstructed the necessary transition really is appalling because it puts America's national security at risk and politics is supposed to stop at the water's edge. One of the first things I expect Secretary Designate Austin to do is to determine if any military officials were involved in that obstruction, and if so, they need to be brought to account.”
On the Start of Congress and the Biden Administration:
“The first thing we need to do is focus on crushing the virus. We have a pandemic that’s raging out of control due to the incompetence of the previous administration. Joe Biden has made clear that his priority is going to 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days and that needs to be what Congress gets behind because until we can tackle this pandemic, we can’t tackle the series of challenges we have ahead of us.”
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