Norman D. Dicks: “I rise in opposition to the Woolsey amendment. Mr. Chairman, last year the House voted on this issue and basically took…”

“I rise in opposition to the Woolsey amendment. Mr. Chairman, last year the House voted on this issue and basically took the position that we should support the backfit. Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out to my distinguished friend and colleague that the Nuclear Posture Review, which was done by the Department of Defense, does, in fact, call for the backfit of 4 Trident submarines with the D-5 missile. That is the administration's position and that is the Navy's position. So, I would just say this: That we have entered into a series of arms control agreements which call upon us to make major reduction in our land-based missiles, to reduce our bomber force to a level that I am frankly troubled by, and the basic deterrent that we have left is on our Trident submarines, some of which are based on the east coast in Georgia and others on the west coast in Washington State, from my home area. Mr. Chairman, I would urge my colleagues to stay with their position of last year, to oppose the Woolsey amendment, and to continue to support the Trident submarine program and the D-5 backfit.”