John Spratt: “the Solomon amendment purports to condition Nunn-Lugar funding. In fact, we all know what it would do. It would stop it…”

“the Solomon amendment purports to condition Nunn-Lugar funding. In fact, we all know what it would do. It would stop it, stop it dead in the water, and I think that is a tragic mistake, and I strongly oppose it. Nunn-Lugar has three laudable goals, which I do not understand how anybody can possibly oppose, to destroy and dismantle weapons that were designed, developed, and deployed, the deadliest weapons in this world, to devastate this country. It is also designed to take the components of those weapons and make sure that they do not spread, fall into the hands of other countries, terrorist groups who might use them against us. And, astutely, it is also to be used so that the knowledge and the expertise of former Soviet scientists cannot be used by these same terrorist groups or rogue nations against us. This law is for our benefit, not for their benefit, and it is in our best interests. And let us see what it accomplished. First of all, all of the nuclear warheads deployed in the former Soviet Union, in Kazakhstan and Ukraine and Belarus, will be removed, gone from those three countries, leaving only one nuclear State in the former Soviet Union. Thirty-eight hundred warheads will be freed up, removed from the former Soviet Union, putting Russia ahead in implementation of the START-I Treaty. Thirty-two of those warheads, missiles, will be SS- 18's.…”