Joe Biden

It is clear that the tobacco companies have no shame. My question for this body is: Have we no shame? What are we about to do? Nothing will happen to protect our children when this goes down. Have we no shame at all?

I think the Goliath here was the tobacco companies with their millions of dollars, and in the health care fight it was the insurance companies with their millions of dollars. I have no doubt my friend, with a small sling and a small stone…

I will say this much to the Senator. I will inquire formally whether or not MEMCOMS have ever been released to the committee. If they were, I would be happy to talk with the Senator about how to get this released. It would be worthwhile…

I will not ask for it because we have never asked for a release for those purposes, other than affecting the outcome of a significant debate or an issue of national consequence.

It is ex post facto now. I would be happy to talk with the Senator about it. The Senator doesn't need me to ask. You are standing next to a chairman of a powerful committee. I am a mere ranking member of a Foreign Relations Committee. So I…

This is a means by which to artificially delay any new decision relative to new entrants. We already have the strategic concept that contemplated and reflected the changes that took place in 1991. You all voted 90 to 6 last night on the…

I will ask my friend a question on my time. What is the relevance of whether or not there is a new strategic concept as it relates to whether or not Austria is a new member of NATO? Are you suggesting that if the 16 NATO members now…

I have a question. Is the Senator saying that the President of the United States will fully be within the law if, when this passes tonight, if this were attached, if he is in a press conference and says, ``I want to compliment the Senate…

I am confused then. I am confused. Why is certification--I have never heard of a certification on the part of the President in a sense of the Senate. Explain that to me. Explain how a sense of the Senate requires a formal certification…

But I am 99 percent certain we agree fully, I say to the Senator from Alaska, in what he is attempting to do, and if he just changed the language ``any NATO expenditure'' and we say ``any U.S. expenditure beyond a common budget affecting…

No. I am not trying to be an obstructionist at all. No. 1, I am told by my staff--A, I don't know about the amendment, notwithstanding it has been filed. I have been concentrating on other things. No. 2, I am told by my staff--and they may…

If I can ask a question on my time. Does the Senator think--and he is a strong supporter of NATO, and if he thought I was implying that he wasn't, I was not. There are others who believe very strongly that it is no longer as relevant. You…

I find his argument absolutely fascinating that economic dependence or integration with the United States is a prerequisite for NATO membership. I wonder if he could explain to me what that dependence was we had with Norway or that…

That is why the Senator should vote against his first amendment and for the second amendment.

With all due respect, what happened, whether the Senator agrees with the policy or not, the Secretary of State, the National Security Adviser, and their designees got on a plane, and they flew to Paris, and they flew to London, and they…

It is done that way now. That is exactly what is done now. On Bosnia, what did we do?

The Senator doesn't often confuse me. We very often agree, and when we disagree, I usually understand clearly why we disagree. Let me explain my confusion, and if the Senator wishes to respond, I would appreciate it. If not, I understand…

You have. Secondly, I was reminded by my staff that our present NATO Ambassador called me personally, and maybe others, asking that he not be put into a position of even having to introduce it, because he thought it was such a serious…

Yes, and I am a quarter French heritage. But my point is this. I think it is dangerous to even introduce this into the NAC. Why would we possibly say to anyone in NATO, now, that we want you to consider us being able to give up our right…

I just rise today to strongly oppose the amendment because its prescription, I think, is both unnecessary for NATO as an organization and, quite frankly, harmful--harmful--to continued U.S. leadership to the alliance. Let me explain what I…

This is a treaty. This is not a conference report. This is not a piece of legislation. This is a treaty. And we should not be effectively legislating on a treaty. This treaty is going to go back to every other nation to sign, and we are…

I am not one for shilling for books, but for those of you who are interested in this subject and the religious and ethnic conflicts that have erupted after the mailed fist of communism has been lifted in Central and Eastern Europe, I…

The amendment says, as my friend from Arizona has drafted it, it is a decision self-evident. In this amendment, it is a decision for the NAC to make whether or not it is an armed conflict that will spill over. There have been a number of…

I know my friend from Oklahoma didn't intend to mislead, but there is already a law, the Helms amendment, which says no U.S. money can be used for that purpose --no U.S. money. What the Mexico City language in this bill says is that these…

I urge my colleagues, notwithstanding the agreement the Senator and I have in every other aspect of the bill, to vote against this conference report. I do so because, at the insistence of the House, the Mexico City provision, which is not…