00:00How extraordinary our military has been to execute this mission under fire without the
00:07loss of a single American life.
00:09It's really extraordinary.
00:10It is not the notion that the administration has put forward that somehow this is simply
00:14a legal action serving a warrant.
00:17They have used the argument on attacking the so-called drug boats as military action.
00:22Technically, the president on Saturday said he's not only going to run Venezuela, but
00:29this is not going to cost the American taxpayer a dime.
00:32Now he's saying Venezuelan oil is going to pay for all of this operation.
00:37To restore, though, Venezuela's oil exporting ability, about a million barrels a day, this
00:42does nothing to make health insurance more affordable, groceries more affordable, drive
00:47down the cost of rent.
00:49That's what the American people want.
00:51So one of the things that came out of the briefing yesterday was how extraordinary our military
00:56has been to execute this mission under fire without the loss of a single American life.
01:03It's really extraordinary.
01:04And as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs made clear, every component of the military was
01:09used.
01:10Because what this was was a military action.
01:15And it is not the notion that the administration has put forward that somehow this is simply
01:19a legal action serving a warrant.
01:21It's absurd.
01:22It doesn't pass the smell test.
01:25And the ironic thing is here, they have used the argument on attacking the so-called drug
01:30boats as military action, as opposed to legal enforcement, while this supposedly was simply
01:35a legal enforcement.
01:37It does not pass the smell test.
01:40I commend our military.
01:42But echoing what Senator Schumer said, military execution without a plan for the day after
01:48leads to devastating consequences.
01:51Secondarily, the president on Saturday said he's not only going to run Venezuela, but this
01:59is not going to cost the American taxpayer a dime.
02:03Haven't we heard that promise before in Iraq where Iraq oil was going to pay for the whole
02:06cost of the invasion?
02:08Now he's saying Venezuelan oil is going to pay for all of this operation.
02:14The challenge is this.
02:15We have an economic chokehold on Venezuela at this point by the blockade.
02:22To restore, though, Venezuela's oil exporting ability, about a million barrels a day, to get
02:27back up to where it was a decade-plus ago, four million barrels a day, will literally take
02:31two to four years of rebuilding and some level of security for companies that go in.
02:39We couldn't get an answer as well as how much is the cost of having 20 percent of our fleet,
02:44the largest armada assembled in the Caribbean since the 20th century, how much per day is
02:50it costing our fleet to be stationed off of Venezuela maintaining that economic chokehold?
02:56And by the fact that at the end of the day the Venezuelans are going to pay for all of
02:59this, Venezuelan oil, does that mean that 20 percent of the fleet has to stay there a
03:04year, two years, three years, four years?
03:08These are the kind of questions that need to be answered.
03:10I'll also echo what Senator Schumer said, a lot of our Virginians over the holidays lost
03:16their health insurance.
03:18This does nothing to make health insurance more affordable, groceries more affordable,
03:23drive down the cost of rent.
03:25That's what the American people want the President and the Congress to focus on.
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