On the recordJuly 23, 2013
I have to take issue with what was just stated as far as maintaining a credible deterrent even with massive unilateral further reductions. We've already reduced our nuclear forces under New START to 1,550 weapons, and when you reduce beyond that, it becomes less credible to our allies that we will have a credible deterrent. We have a nuclear umbrella right now with about 30 countries relying on us. If we start unilaterally reducing the number of our nuclear warheads, they will become less certain about our deterrent. They will be incentivized to go out and start their own nuclear programs. I'm talking about countries like Japan and South Korea, which have a neighbor, North Korea, that is threatening to them. If we want to see more nuclear weapons in the world, we should reduce ours. Other countries are simply not going to follow our example, and it will lead to more nuclear weapons worldwide. So I would urge the adoption of this amendment. I disagree with my colleague from Indiana, and I would ask for a ``yes'' vote on this amendment. I yield the balance of my time to my colleague from Wyoming (Mrs. Lummis).
