Ronald Dellums: “I rise in opposition not to the substance of what my colleague is trying to do, but rather, on technical grounds. My…”

“I rise in opposition not to the substance of what my colleague is trying to do, but rather, on technical grounds. My staff and I have attempted to work with the gentleman's staff in trying to achieve some accommodation on this matter on technical grounds. We would believe that a report, rather than certification, is much more in the realm of reality. Let me tell the gentleman what I am thinking and then he can respond. I heard the gentleman's speech, but at some point this gets drafted into legislative language. Legislative language is very important. The gentleman mentioned, required certification. The President must certify. Now, what is the President's first certification, whether it is possible for the United States to verify by technical means that a Russian ICBM is or is not targeted at a site in the United States? We can try to verify that it is possible or that it is not possible, but trying to verify whether it is possible, I would suggest that that is language and a technical change, that it is impossible to verify whether. You either certify that something is or it is not, but whether it is, I think is inappropriate language. I think that is technically flawed.”