Political Quotes

“I rise to express my views on the National Missile Defense bill as it was amended yesterday. I am glad that Senator Cochran and Senator Levin were able to agree to changes in this bill. The unanimous votes on the amendments and nearly unanimous vote on final passage are tributes to Senator Cochran's and Senator Levin's resolve to seek common ground on this important issue that has long divided this body along party lines. Thankfully, instead of a partisan battle, the Senate produced a strong statement of this nation's resolve to develop and deploy a national missile defense system in the context of other budget priorities, national security concerns, and the U.S.-Russian arms control process. The initial bill stated that the United States would deploy a national missile defense system as soon as technologically possible. I stood with the administration and this nation's military leaders in opposing that legislation because it did not consider other important factors such as cost, the specific missile threat, effectiveness of the system, and the impact on the arms control process. The amendments that were added address some of those other issues.”