Robert Torricelli: “Madam President, tomorrow the Senate will exercise its historic constitutional powers of treaty ratification. It is a…”

“Madam President, tomorrow the Senate will exercise its historic constitutional powers of treaty ratification. It is a solemn power that we have exercised for two centuries. That power has often defined the security of the Nation and sometimes been determinant of war and peace itself. The issue before the Senate now is the ban on chemical weapons, probably the most important foreign policy question remaining before the United States in this century. Perhaps because the consequences are so great the choice is also clear. This treaty demands ratification. The treaty itself is a culmination of a process that began over 12 years ago under the leadership of Ronald Reagan. The United States began a review and then determined that it would eliminate chemical weapons. We did so because of the need to reduce the numbers of those weapons in the world and to restrict the ability of those nations that did not possess them to obtain them. Since Ronald Reagan's judgment a decade ago, we have made extraordinary progress. In 1985, President Reagan signed into law a judgment that would eliminate American stockpiles by the year 2004, having an important impact on the ratification of this treaty because, whether it is ratified or not, no matter what judgments are made by this institution, the United States is going to eliminate chemical weapons.”