Byron Dorgan: “Mr. President, statements have been made that my position is I do not want to defend America's cities against a very…”

“Mr. President, statements have been made that my position is I do not want to defend America's cities against a very real threat--total nonsense; absolute nonsense. My position is that we should not be spending money we do not have on something the Secretary of Defense says we do not need. Let me read from a letter from Secretary of Defense William Perry to Senator Nunn: The bill's provision would add nothing to DOD's ability to pursue our missile defense programs and would needlessly cause us to incur excess costs and serious security risks. The bill would require the United States to make a decision now on developing a specific national missile defense for deployment by 2003, with interim operational capability in 1999, despite the fact that a balanced strategic missile threat has not emerged. Our national missile defense program is designed to give us the capability for a deployment decision in 3 years, when we will be in a much better position to assess the threat and deploy the most technologically advanced system available, if they think it is needed. This is not a case of somebody deciding we do not want to protect America's cities. It is a case of saying we do not want to spend $300 million that the Secretary of Defense says we do not need to spend.”