Political Quotes

“I strongly oppose this amendment because it strikes a section that helps us set priorities in defense spending. Dismantling U.S. nuclear weapons is not a priority. Getting nuclear modernization done is the priority. Two weeks ago, Secretary of State Kerry announced at the NPT review conference that the U.S. would accelerate its dismantlement of nuclear warheads by 20 percent. While Russia continues to make overt nuclear threats to the U.S. and our allies, we accelerate unilateral nuclear disarmament. This is insane. Let's be clear about one point in particular. Section 3121 of the underlying bill does not contradict any U.S. treaty obligations. Current arms control treaties do not require the U.S. to dismantle any nuclear warheads. In the FY16 budget request, NNSA detailed its plan to focus the next 5 years of dismantlement work on warheads retired prior to 2009. Section 3121 provides them enough money to do so, and it does not restrict this work on pre-2009 warheads. Section 3121 allows the administration to carry out the dismantlement plan it described in the FY16 budget request. It simply prevents the unilateral disarmament and acceleration proposed by Secretary Kerry, which is a misguided attempt to appease those who would disarm the United States. Section 3121 also prohibits dismantlement of certain U.S. nuclear cruise missile warheads for 5 years.…”