On the recordDecember 2, 2010
I rise to speak about the START treaty. This issue, while on the front pages in the last few days, is not front-page news generally, but it is so unbelievably important. First, I compliment Senator Kerry, chairman of the committee. I compliment Senator Lugar and others who have worked on this. I was part of the national security working group. We had many briefings during the negotiations with the Russians. I chair the appropriations subcommittee that funds our nuclear weapons, and I have stood next to nuclear weapons, know a lot about them, know about the horror of these weapons, as do almost all Americans. Let me describe how many nuclear warheads we have in the world. This data is the Union of Concerned Scientists' that made an estimate in 2010. They said Russia has about 15,000 nuclear weapons; the United States about 9,400; China, 240; France, 300; Britain, 200. We can see Israel at 80. These are the expected number of nuclear weapons on the planet. That is somewhere around 25 to 28,000 nuclear weapons on this planet, the loss of one of which or the explosion of one of which in a major city by a terrorist group will change life on this planet forever. The question is, What are we doing now to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, prevent terrorists and rogue nations from acquiring nuclear weapons, and then reducing the number of nuclear weapons? What are we doing?
