Lois Frankel: “I think there are a few of us here in Congress who are old enough to remember a time when we actually did nuclear bomb…”

“I think there are a few of us here in Congress who are old enough to remember a time when we actually did nuclear bomb drills in school. It probably would have been a futile action had there been a real attack. And although nuclear warfare is still an existential threat to all of us and our allies around the world, it has been arms control that has let us go about our lives daily without that worry of nuclear war: agreements like the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, known as the INF Treaty, signed in 1987 between the United States and the Soviet Union, which led to the elimination of thousands of United States and Russian nuclear missiles. In recent years, it has become apparent that Russia has been violating this treaty. And in response, in February, the Trump administration announced its withdrawal to the consternation of our European friends, giving both the United States and Russia freedom to produce more nuclear weapons. And it is the general consensus of the arms control community that we should be working with Russia to bring them back into compliance instead of adding to our nuclear arsenal and sidestepping NATO. {time} 1545 Once again, this administration is alienating allies who don't want to be targets for Russian attacks. The NATO Secretary General said, clearly: We do not intend to deploy new land-based nuclear missiles in Europe.…”