Heidi Alexander: “I am here to talk about another subject, marketplace fairness. But before I do, I want to acknowledge the importance of…”

“I am here to talk about another subject, marketplace fairness. But before I do, I want to acknowledge the importance of what the Senator from Arizona has had to say and his leadership in the whole area of our nuclear doctrine, but especially in the area of nuclear weapons modernization. I think he is correct to say that the discussion about section 1251, which he described--which is the goal for the amount of money we need to modernize our nuclear weapons that we have in this country--may not have been the reason that the New START treaty passed. But I doubt the New START treaty would have been ratified without it. So it is an important part of that debate, and it is an important part of the debate today. I am one of those Senators who is right in the middle of the discussion. I worked with the Senator from Arizona on the last appropriations bill, and he worked harder than anyone to try to get the amount of appropriations closer to the 1251 number. We made some progress but still fell short. This represents a substantial challenge to us. I think he has put his finger on a very important problem.…”