Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I rise today to talk about the START treaty. This historic treaty is seeking, of course, to limit the strategic…”

“I rise today to talk about the START treaty. This historic treaty is seeking, of course, to limit the strategic long-range nuclear weapons that are currently in U.S. and Russian inventory for a total of 1,550 warheads for each country. While these limits require some reductions in the number of delivery vehicles and deployed warheads both countries possess, a change in the counting of warheads will allow both countries to cut hundreds of them on paper with no actual reductions. For example, under START I, each deployed delivery vehicle was counted as carrying a specified number of warheads regardless of how many warheads were actually equipped on the missile or bomber. New START abandons these rules, instead only counting the number of warheads actually equipped on deployed missiles. In addition, strategic bombers each count as one warhead regardless of how many warheads they are actually carrying. I also have reservations because of how New START limits our ability to conduct extensive and robust verification activities to ensure compliance with the treaty.”