Political Quotes

“I strongly support the Senator from Michigan and my other colleagues in their effort to amend the missile defense sections of the defense authorization bill. The amendment would strike from the bill language that mandates action that would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The ABM Treaty, approved overwhelmingly by the Senate following extensive and thorough hearings by the Committee on Foreign Relations, has served in the intervening years as the centerpiece of modern arms control. The treaty has served to guarantee that neither side could threaten to neutralize the offensive forces of the other, with the result that we had years of strategic stability followed currently by major reductions in the strategic offensive arms of both sides. Various attacks have been made upon it over the years, largely by people who would prefer an unbridled strategic offensive arms race, but the treaty's benefits have been so clear that these assaults have been repelled. The present favorable strategic arms environment has been achieved under the umbrella of the ABM Treaty. It probably would have been impossible to reach the present situation in which we are moving away from heavy dependence on strategic defensive arms were it not for the ABM Treaty. The amendment also corrects an additional problem with the bill in that it unilaterally interprets the ABM Treaty's meaning for theater missile defenses.”