Trent Lott: “I thank the Senator, but I just want the American people to think about that terminology. The threat of defense. Maybe…”

“I thank the Senator, but I just want the American people to think about that terminology. The threat of defense. Maybe that should be the description of what the Levin amendment is all about. Defense-- who does it scare in America? Our defense scares the Russians? The MAD era is over, thank God. Let us admit it. Let us let it go. Times have changed. The threat of defense, to me, is not a scary idea. We are not saying, do it now. We are saying, let us move forward with development, let us have some plans, let us begin some specificity, let us have enough money to really do the job. Let us not have enough money to waste. Let us have enough money to do the job. Let us have enough money to deploy. Yes, we should be reasonable. We should think it through. But does any Senator here, or any American, think that the Senator from Maine is going to support language that is going to be dangerous and irresponsible? That is ridiculous. The Senator from Virginia, Senator Warner, who has worked on this for years and years and years and was one of the coauthors, with the Senator from Georgia, of the missile defense language of 1991, these are not irresponsible people. Can we continue to work together to try to move into this new era to move beyond ABM? Yes. Let us do it rationally and reasonably. But let us do it. What is this absolute infatuation, this clinging to ABM? It is time to move on. We have a letter from Dr. Kissinger that has been referred to.…”