John Kerry: “I share the concerns of many Senators with respect to the possibilities of future rapid expansion, and there are serious…”

“I share the concerns of many Senators with respect to the possibilities of future rapid expansion, and there are serious questions from the Congress about the control of that. But I do think the constitutional issues of restraint of a President before the fact on foreign policy are significant, and equally significant, I believe, that we will have ample opportunity for consultation. I call my colleagues' attention to one particular paragraph, which is, the President says: I pledge to undertake the same broad pattern of consultation before making any future decisions about invitations of membership to other states, or making any membership commitments. In other words, no private membership commitments will be made outside of the process of the U.S. Congress consultation. I might also add that that consultation in the past has taken over several years, with a number of different resolutions of support having been passed previously. So I think in that light I will oppose the Warner amendment.”