Political Quotes

“Mr. President, as we continue to work through the amendments, I rise to outline what is at stake in the debate and describe what the world would be like without the New START treaty accord. Every Senator here took an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. We have an obligation to support a strong national defense. First, a world without New START is one in which more nuclear missiles are pointed at Americans. This treaty reduces that number. A world without a New START accord is one in which we have no nuclear inspectors on the ground in Russia. These inspectors have more than a decade of experience inspecting Russian nuclear sites. They were involved in the negotiation process to ensure that there are strong inspection provisions in the treaty. But without New START, these inspectors would not be able to return to work. Furthermore, without onsite inspections, our intelligence services will still be required to collect information on Russia's nuclear weapons infrastructure. On December 20 of this year, ADM Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote to the Senate: An extended delay in ratification may eventually force an inordinate and unwise shift in scarce resources from other high priority requirements to maintain adequate awareness of Russian nuclear forces. In a world without New START, our intelligence capabilities will be stretched, which could give the enemies of our troops on the ground an advantage.…”