Dick Lugar: “the condition we are discussing, all Senators by this time, I am certain, understand, requires the President to certify…”

“the condition we are discussing, all Senators by this time, I am certain, understand, requires the President to certify that the parties to the convention have agreed to strike article X of the convention and amend article XI of the convention. That means, in simple language, that the United States would simply say a treaty negotiated by 160 countries, now ratified by, apparently, 74-- unilaterally, we simply knock out article X and severely amend article XI. As all Senators who have addressed this will admit, this means effectively the end of the treaty, at least in terms of our participation, because, clearly, the other nations of the world are under no obligation to renegotiate the entire treaty at that point. This is the reason it is strictly a killer amendment. It simply knocks out material parts of the convention. If those who are advocating this had a point, there might be reason to pause at this point and not ratify the treaty. But by and large it appears to me that most of us want to ratify the treaty and we do so with assurance, first of all, that as a country we have our wits about us. There is no possibility this President, the next President, Members of the Senate, any responsible American is going to furnish material to countries that are rogue states that are going to jeopardize our security. The treaty does not call for that, as again and again we pointed out.…”