Floyd Spence: “I rise in opposition to the amendment offered by Mr. Kopetski, which would have the House express its support for the…”

“I rise in opposition to the amendment offered by Mr. Kopetski, which would have the House express its support for the continued moratorium on U.S. nuclear weapons testing and which urges the prompt conclusion of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban agreement. Mr. Chairman, despite the proponents rhetoric, there is still no evidence to support the assertion that a comprehensive nuclear test ban or a nuclear testing moratorium by the United States will affect or stop the spread of nuclear weapons. Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Libya have not abandoned and will not abandon their nuclear weapons development programs simply because the United States has adopted a moratorium on testing or because of the possibility of an international agreement banning nuclear tests in the future. President Clinton announced last summer that he was extending his unilateral moratorium on U.S. underground nuclear testing. This past March, the President informed Congress that he was again extending the moratorium, this time through September 1995. Since the President's first announcement, the People's Republic of China has conducted one nuclear test and, according to a May 26, 1994, New York Times article, may be preparing to conduct an additional test or tests in the months ahead.”