Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I compliment the Senator from Massachusetts for his endurance. I appreciate that. I have to say also to the Senator from Indiana, my good friend, I am kind of in a unique position as one who serves on both the Armed Services and the Foreign Relations Committee. I disagree with most of what was just stated by the senior Senator from Massachusetts. One of the concerns I have had is that we have so many people who want to be in on this, who should be in on this, who have been elected. We have new Senators, one who is occupying the chair right now. We have Senators Kirk and Manchin. We also have Senators-elect Blunt, Boozman, Portman, Moran, Lee, Johnson, Hoeven, Ayotte, Paul, and Rubio. All of them have signed a letter saying: This is very significant. We really need to be a part of this. This is important. It is important in a different way to me than it is to others. I am opposed for a number of reasons. I am one of the few bad guys who came out initially and said I opposed it. We all know what a strategic arms reduction act is. Initially, when we had two superpowers, it made a lot more sense to me. Frankly, I look at this, and I see the concerns I have. Verification--that sounds good. Yes, we will verify. Yet the number of verifications, inspections, is like 18 per year in the New START as opposed to some 600 over a 15-year period. Modernization is one thing on which we all agree. We have to modernize. But there has to be a way of doing it.…”