Political Quotes

“Mr. President, let me speak to some of the provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act especially concerning nuclear modernization and the implementation of the New START treaty. This is in the context of the omnibus appropriations bills that we will consider later this week, which appear to include funding reductions from the President's request for nuclear weapons modernization activities for the year 2012. Earlier this year I introduced the New START Implementation Act because other Senators and I believed it is necessary that the Congress codify the agreement made between the President and Congress regarding the commitment to the modernization of our nuclear deterrent. Indeed, it is fair to say the Senate's support for the ratification of New START was contingent on modernization of the remaining nuclear arsenal. One of the critical features of that legislation was the link between funding of the administration's 10-year nuclear modernization program to any U.S. nuclear force reductions in a given year. The language that appeared in the House-passed version of the Defense bill was good policy because it limited the reductions in warheads the United States otherwise would make pursuant to the New START treaty if Congress failed to provide the funding prescribed each year under the so-called 1251 modernization plan. In other words, warhead reductions were based on adequate funding.…”