Yesterday, Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) got into a slightly heated back-and-forth over national security, and DeMint’s hold on President Obama’s nomination to the head of TSA, which McCaskill called “nuts.”
On CNN, DeMint began by voicing his concerns that Obama pick Errol Southers would “submit airport security to collective bargaining, which he said “would bring the security concerns of TSA under the authority of union bosses.”
McCaskill replied that Southers “went through a thorough vetting in two different committees,” which each found that “this is the right guy for the job.”
She then said: “And with all due respect, this is nuts! Holding him up over whether or not somebody’s going to be able to bargain for better benefits. This man is focused on the mission of this agency.”
And you know, really, we’ve got to get passed this habit in the Senate that one or two members can say, “Hey, I’m going to stop everything.” This man will get confirmed. And he’ll get confirmed by a wide margin. And playing games with the process? All it’s doing is hurting the traveling public because the most important front-line agency to protect Americans right now on flights, is being held up over political stuff.
DeMint responded: “I’m not holding him up, i just wanted a limited debate in a roll call vote on a very important position. The president has demonstrated some problems with the vetting process with other nominees and I think it’s important that America know what’s at stake here.”
Here’s the video:
In a later part of the segment DeMint and McCaskill got into it again over national security.
DeMint began by slamming Obama, saying that “there’s no question that the President has downplayed the risk of terrorists since he took office.”
He continued: “He is not focused on building security and the intelligence apparatus of our country.”
McCaskill retorted: “You know, that’s just not true. This President is focused like a laser on how to keep this country safe.”
