No. Fine. Let's review what President Bush did. In the final hours of the days of his Presidency, he did the START II. I understand that. But the point is, that was a process that evolved over many years. The work had been done. The…

I assure our distinguished leadership on this side that Senator Lott, I, and others believe very strongly that this bill is essential for the United States and essential for the men and women in the Armed Forces. I think considerable…

I simply say once again I thank the Senator from South Dakota. He has been a leader on this issue. Indeed, his amendment has been widely supported throughout the retirement community. I have come in with the second-degree simply to say we…

the number of retirees over 65 is roughly 1.4 million persons. Under the Warner amendment, as well as the Johnson amendment, they are now taken back into the existing infrastructure that cares for active duty and under-65 persons. Anyone…

I wish to return to the following. Here we go. We are now taking the retirees who are given only Medicare, and the Warner bill now restores them to the full rights they had when they were on active duty in terms of health care. My good…

But my point is, had it been able to go out 10 years, we continue to use that baseline. I am absolutely confident that this issue of retiree health care will be injected into the Presidential campaign. Each candidate will be asked what…

Since he and I joined together several years ago on a piece of legislation to initiate the BRAC process--you remember that, and I will not go into the chronology--I share with the Senator appreciation of the need for an assessment of our…

I believe construction of a new Command & General Staff College instruction facility will be included in the FY 2003 through 2007 Military Construction Future Years Defense Plan and I would certainly encourage the Army to execute this…

Correct. So the difference between the two approaches is very significant in terms of dollars. In fact, the distinguished Senator's bill would cost along the following lines: He said $3 billion in fiscal year 2001; $5.7 billion in 2002; up…

The retiree community, in particular, following this, will say to the Senator from Virginia: Why did you cut short to 2004? I simply say: Because the likelihood of getting 60 votes was in doubt, and I didn't want to have that doubt. I…

I simply reiterate what my colleague, who is the chairman of the subcommittee, has said. This amendment, which I drew up carefully, is drawn in such a way that it does not preclude President Clinton from negotiating and, indeed, preclude…

I would say, if this situation today were of a parallel situation at the time of President Bush, I would have been the first to pass this same law. It was an entirely different factual situation, I say to the Senator. I hope those…

In quick summary, he cites what the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said in 1995. Fine. But General Shelton and others were acting on the predicate, on the assumption, which was a fair assumption, that the Russian Duma would adopt START II as…

once we took the initiative on our side of the aisle in the committee, we had bipartisan support across the board. The Senator is absolutely right. The point is where we are. We are faced with constraints in military spending, as we are in…

But am I not also correct that if we mandate by law that the existing military health program has to absorb back into it this class of retirees, they will have to augment doctors, nurses, perhaps modest increase in facilities, and all of…

if I might summarize, again, on five occasions President Clinton has signed into law actions by the Congress of the United States which state very clearly we should not go to these levels. There it is. It is interesting, one of the reasons…

Why did the Russian Duma deliberately put conditions on START II, knowing that those conditions would never survive a vote in this Chamber?

if I may make one observation in reply, the President's budget for 2001 includes funds to sustain our strategic forces at current levels. Why then did he send up a budget request to maintain those strategic levels, the levels you are now…

ultimately we will go lower. But we should take into consideration the actions of the Duma and the fact that we should study very carefully this nuclear posture in view of the actions taken by the Duma.

he knows full well that those protocols put on by the Duma relate to the ABM Treaty. That is a subject of great controversy.

I think the Senator has raised a legitimate question. Are we as a body in the Senate to look in a bipartisan way to future arms control or are we not? It is a fair question given the action by this Chamber, which is a proper action, on the…

our President doesn't take the exact turn in the way these things are written. The Duma knew full well that in this Chamber--and, indeed, in the Congress and, indeed, in the whole of the United States--there is a very serious and important…

It is very clear that the next President of the United States must be given every possible bit of leverage he can have as he readdresses in good faith, as did President Clinton, this issue of the ABM Treaty. It could well be that the…

I strongly disagree. I don't believe that linkage existed in these negotiations. What is clear is that our President, in good faith--I commend our President--at the summit did the best he could. I am concerned about some of the language he…

I simply say at the time that was done, they did not foresee the Duma would put these conditions on the START II treaty. That is the essence of this debate.