WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committees, today joined MSNBC to discuss recent news regarding the chemical attack in Syria as well as his decision to oppose the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch in the Judiciary Committee on Monday.

“I reached out to many of my Republican and Democratic colleagues. I've had a number of meetings and conversations in recent days, trying to see if there was some agreement we could reach to trust each other to move ahead with cloture on Judge Gorsuch and have the next Supreme Court nominee be a consensus candidate, where Democrats could have input on who would be nominated. Ultimately, those efforts have been unsuccessful. This is not a good week for the Senate,” said Senator Coons.

Full audio and video available here.

Excerpts from the interview:

Senator Coons on Judge Gorsuch: Let's be clear, that effort to change the Senate rules will be taken up by Republicans. When I announced in the Judiciary Committee Monday that I would join my fellow Democrats in voting against cloture, the rest of the sentence was, unless working together, Republicans and Democrats, we can find an agreement to get past this moment. 

I felt, as did all of my colleagues, that Merrick Garland was the subject of a seven-month long partisan filibuster. That denying Judge Garland, who was nominated by President Obama, even a hearing on the committee, let alone a vote, was the equivalent of a partisan filibuster. I reached out to many of my Republican and Democratic colleagues. I've had a number of meetings and conversations in recent days, trying to see if there was some agreement we could reach to trust each other to move ahead with cloture on Judge Gorsuch and have the next Supreme Court nominee be more of a consensus candidate, where Democrats could have input on who would be nominated. Ultimately, those efforts have been unsuccessful. This is not a good week for the Senate. I am not optimistic here around the long-term path forward. But I have no regrets about opposing Judge Gorsuch. Having really dug into his judicial record, having met with him several times, and having interviewed him over four days of Judiciary Committee hearings.

Senator Coons on Syria: This is yet another tragic humanitarian crisis caused by the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad. I don't think it is constructivefor the Trump administration to abandon efforts to try and hold Assad to account. I hope Secretary of State Tillerson, when he goes to meet with Putin, won't be inclined to cut some sort of deal where we provide any legitimacy or support for Russia's efforts in Syria to back Assad. I do think that we need to be more engaged. I was one of many here in the Senate on the Foreign Relations Committee who voted to support taking military action against Assad when he first used poison gas against civilians in his country back when former President Barack Obama drew that red line. 

More on Syria and the Middle East: It is a mess. Syria and Iraq have been profoundly reshaped by ISIS and by the long going, grinding civil war within Syria, which is really a war of Assad against his own people. We have made real progress with our coalition partners in pushing ISIS out of Mosul. We are poised for success in taking Raqqa back from ISIS. But, I'm gravely concerned we don't have the investment in diplomacy and development resources to secure the piece after ISIS is driven out of the two main cities. The president has proposed dramatic cuts to our diplomatic and development spending. I think that is exactly the wrong direction to go in at this time. In our previous experience in Iraq, it showed that. We can be successful militarily. But, if we don't invest in stabilizing the countries and providing a positive alternative to extremism, poverty and terrorism, inevitably, we'll be back there again five or ten years from now. 

Senator Coons on the Foreign Relations Committee’s strategy for the Middle East: Senator Bob Corker, who’s the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Ben Cardin, who’s the ranking member and Senator from Maryland, we're working in a bipartisan way to develop and craft and focus the strategy for the Middle East. The situation is somewhat chaotic and unstable. I think it is important that the Senate engage with this administration to make it clear, who are our vital allies that we will stand shoulder to shoulder with, such as Israel and Jordan, and who are we willing to work with in order to secure some more progress towards peace here? Who are we working with in Iraq? Who are we working with in Turkey? What are we doing with the Kurds? There are a lot of unanswered questions about what our strategy needs to be going forward. We've had several hearings. We've had direct meetings and conversations with Nikki Haley, Secretary Tillerson, and I am optimistic about the Senate playing a stronger role in this Congress and helping shape strategy with regards to Syria.