Hank Johnson: “This amendment would direct the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress…”

“This amendment would direct the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress regarding the impact on national security of reducing our nuclear weapons stockpiles, as required by the New START Treaty. For strong supporters of New START, such as myself, it's self-evident that reducing our stockpiles when we already have the capacity to destroy the Earth many times over is clearly in our national security interest. But I understand that there is some doubt amongst my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I respect those views, and we should address them. So this amendment offers a simple solution, that is, let's require our senior military leadership to give us their views. I believe that my view, which is that cutting our nuclear stockpiles is perfectly consistent with our security interests, would be validated. But in the national interest, it seems not only prudent but essential to put that question to our senior military leadership. And I'm willing to do that, even if it risks me getting back the wrong answer, or an answer that I don't want to hear. I'm, frankly, surprised this amendment is controversial because it's just common sense. I would ask any colleague who opposes this amendment why they wouldn't want to hear the views of our military leadership, why would we not want to hear from our senior commanders on this issue? Is there any valid reason?…”