Thank you very much, Speaker Halvorson. I appreciate your presiding over this historic piece of legislation. I want to thank my friend Bart Gordon. Chairman Gordon has been an extraordinary leader of this committee, an extraordinary member…

Madam President, I understand Senator Sessions is on the floor and wishes to speak. I ask unanimous consent that the Chair recognize Senator Sessions, and after Senator Sessions, recognize myself and then Senator Shaheen, so we stay in…

Madam President, we are now only hours away from when we will have a chance to vote on the ratification of the New START treaty. The Senate has invoked cloture, so we are in that 30-hour postcloture period. We are now in a period where we…

Madam President, reserving the right to object, and I do intend to object, first, let me point out to Senator Crapo, he and I have worked together on the Water and Wildlife Committee and the Environment and Public Works Committee. I think…

To me, it is the language of the treaty itself. The language of the treaty itself is pretty clear as to what the definition of a launcher is, with three exclusions. Just look at the language of the treaty that any type of launcher would be…

I am glad I yielded to Senator Sessions for that point because I do believe the fellows from the military assigned to our offices are extremely valuable in our work. I was fortunate to have CDR Andre Coleman in my office from the Navy, and…

Mr. President, the current framework concerning the espionage statutes was designed to address classic spy cases involving persons who intended to aid foreign governments and harm the United States. The current framework traces its roots…

Madam President, I am pleased the Senate has confirmed the nomination of Albert Diaz of North Carolina to be a U.S. circuit judge for the Fourth Circuit. Judge Diaz is strongly supported by his home State Senators, Senators Hagan and Burr…

Mr. President, I say to Senator Kyl, these missiles are not strategic. Do they affect our strategic balance? I say that everything in our defense toolbox can affect our strategic balance. That was taken into consideration in the…

First, let me thank Senator Kyl for bringing this issue to our attention. I think this is a very important issue. We have a lot of security issues as they relate to Russia, as they relate to Europe, and as they relate to the sea-launch…

Mr. President, we yield back the time on this amendment. As I understand the unanimous consent agreement, it is 30 minutes per amendment. Then I think we are prepared to go to Senator Kyl for his amendment. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The…

Mr. President, I will say, I think we just have a disagreement. I think where Senate confirmation would be at issue is where there is an amendment to the treaty, and that is exactly what is included in our resolution. I think it is…

Let me thank Senator Wicker for bringing forward this amendment. I know it is an amendment he feels very strongly about. I compliment him because I believe a good part of what he was concerned about is already in the resolution of advice…

Madam President, I, first, thank the Senator from Idaho for bringing up this issue. I might tell him, I have a laundry list of issues with which I would like to deal with Russia. I have the honor of chairing the Helsinki Commission. We…

Madam President, let me first tell my colleague that I support the treaty because it is in the best interest of the United States. It is in our national security interest. It is not an accommodation to Russia. This treaty helps us on…

Madam President, I appreciate the concerns my colleague from Arizona is raising in regards to mobile launchers, particularly as it relates to rail-mobile launchers. But I am reading the same language the Senator has put on the floor, and…

Navy officers are always the best, and coming from Maryland, where we have the Naval Academy, we were pleased to provide some help to the Senator from Alabama. If I can continue on the New START treaty, the real test here is the national…

Mr. President, the Classified Information Procedures Act, CIPA, was enacted in 1980 with bipartisan support to address the ``disclose or dismiss'' dilemma that arose in espionage prosecutions when a defendant would threaten the government…