Cord Byrd: “Madam President, the conference report to the fiscal year 2002 Defense authorization bill before the Senate today…”

“Madam President, the conference report to the fiscal year 2002 Defense authorization bill before the Senate today contains many provisions that will help the men and women who serve our country in uniform. The bill provides for pay raises, increased educational benefits, and better housing for our military personnel. It authorizes important funds for the military services' counter-terrorism programs, and enhances efforts to improve the serious accounting problems of the Department of Defense. Unfortunately, as developments unfolded in our strategic relationship with Russia on nuclear weapons and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, it became clear to me that the conference report before us does not move us in the right direction on those two critical issues. It is the importance of our strategic relationship with Russia, and the rest of the world, that compelled me to oppose this conference report. The conference report eliminates a provision of law that forbids the President from reducing our nuclear stockpile below the levels laid out in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 1991, which total about 6,000 warheads.”