Pete Sessions: “we have in many ways a good Defense authorization bill. I am sorry we are debating again this year over national missile…”

“we have in many ways a good Defense authorization bill. I am sorry we are debating again this year over national missile defense. Last year, the same debate occurred. It was about the only major disagreement we had over the Defense authorization bill, but it is a very important issue. It is important to the people of the United States. It is important to the President and the Secretary of Defense who are charged with defending our homeland against attack. We have to debate it again this year. That is healthy. That is what this body is all about. In 1999, it is important to recall, the Senate voted 97 to 3 to ``deploy as soon as technologically feasible a national missile defense system.'' That represented the overwhelming consensus of opinion in this body. President Clinton signed that bill. President Clinton stated that he favored the deployment of a national missile defense system. During the 2000 campaign, Vice President Gore said he was for it. President Bush made quite clear in his campaign for the Presidency that he considered the deployment of a national missile defense system a high priority for America. We should not fail to note that Vice President Gore's candidate for Vice President, Senator Joe Lieberman, was a cosponsor with Senator Cochran of the National Missile Defense Act of 1999 and a supporter of national missile defense. He quite clearly stated that position during the campaign for the Presidency. It is a bipartisan issue.”