Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to express my support for START, the nuclear arms reduction treaty pending before the Senate. This week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which I have the privilege of serving, will convene to vote on this New START Treaty. Since the treaty was signed by the United States and Russia in April, both the Foreign Relations and the Armed Services Committees have conducted more than a dozen hearings, both open and classified, to examine the essential goal of this treaty: to advance the national security of the United States. After hours of testimony from some of the most knowledgeable people in and out of government, as well as public statements of support from countless experts, we can say with great confidence that the Senate's ratification of the START Treaty is in our national interest. Witnesses who testified before the committee come from wide backgrounds of the government, academia, and private industry. Former government officials, both civilian and military, who have held positions of the highest responsibility for our national defense and nuclear security--including former Republican administration officials who had negotiated and implemented previous START treaties--were among those who testified and called for the treaty's speedy ratification. All have been experts, with years, if not decades, of experience in the field of national security and arms control, and all have strongly endorsed ratification of the treaty.…”