Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to seize the moment, along with my distinguished chairman, because we are indebted to all the great people he has enumerated, to embellish his congratulations by mentioning that we are grateful, first of all, that the President invited Senator Kerry and me to be part of conversations on two occasions during the negotiation of the treaty. That, we thought, was very valuable and gave us some insight as to where the negotiators were headed and to offer what counsel we could about those issues we felt were important and those issues we were certain all Senators would feel were important as we sought ratification of the New START treaty. Likewise, those conversations were carried on rigorously by the Vice President, our former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden, who has worked with Senator Kerry and with me over the course of three decades or so of active participation and several arms control treaties. Vice President Biden has a very good idea of how the ratification process works and what counsel he can give, not only to us but to all Members and colleagues with whom he has worked so well in the past. I am especially pleased, likewise, that Rose Gottemoeller, who headed the negotiation team, has been very available to Senators throughout the time of the negotiation abroad and during her trips to Washington and certainly throughout the hearings the Foreign Relations Committee held.…”