On the recordDecember 18, 2010
to say the treaty doesn't constrain the United States misses the point of the argument we have been trying to make over the course of the last day and a half. What the Russians have done is establish a legal pretext for withdrawal from the treaty. They have been very clever about it, and up to the time we had been told the President had sent us a letter, there was no pushback from the United States. I haven't seen this letter, so it is a little hard to comment on it. It has been given to us 15 minutes before the vote is supposed to start. It hasn't been shared with us. We have no idea what all it says. We have Senator Kerry's quotation of certain parts of it. It is obviously a last-ditch effort to try to win votes or preclude an amendment from passing. It shows the administration is scrambling and making it up as it goes along. That is not the way to deal with a serious subject such as this.
