START Treaty

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I think most of us believe we should not play partisan politics when it comes to nuclear weapons. But in a speech this morning at the Heritage Foundation, my colleagues, our colleague, Senator Jim DeMint, claimed the new START treaty weakens our national security. I like our colleague from South Carolina. He has been the ranking member on the European Affairs Subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee, which I have chaired for the last 2 years, and we have worked very well together. But on this issue he is just wrong.

Nearly the entire foreign policy and national security establishment, Democrats and Republicans alike, completely disagree with him. Senator DeMint is arguing that this treaty somehow weakens our national security and limits our strategic options. That argument has little basis in reality and is opposed by every living former Republican Secretary of State, five former Secretaries of Defense, seven former commanders of our strategic nuclear weapons, foreign policy and national security giants from seven former Presidential administrations and former President George H.W. Bush. All of these national security heavyweights argue the exact opposite of Senator DeMint, and they all agree the new START treaty strengthens our national security.

The new START treaty has the unanimous backing of America's military leadership and America's NATO allies. According to the most recent CBS news poll, the treaty now has the support of 82 percent of Americans. Now is the time to vote on the new START treaty. No one is rushing this treaty. Since the treaty was signed back in April, the Senate has had 245 days--I want to repeat that, 245 days--to thoroughly review and consider this agreement. After 20 Senate hearings, more than 31 witnesses, over 900 questions and answers, and 8 months of consideration, including a significant delay during the August recess for additional time before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the consensus is clear. New START is in our national security interest, and the Senate should not wait any longer to ratify this treaty.

I ask the opponents of this treaty to consider our broader national security interests. Think about the effect stalling this treaty or publicly rejecting it will have not only on our ability to monitor Russia--because we have had no inspectors on the ground in Russia for over a year now because the treaty expired on December 5, so it has been over a year--but on all of our counterproliferation efforts around the world. Failing to ratify New START this year tells the world we are not serious about the nuclear threat.

I know my colleagues don't want Iran or North Korea or al-Qaida to have the bomb. We have heard that from everyone in this Chamber. Everyone is clear about that. Last week five former Republican Secretaries of State from five former Republican Presidents connected the passage of New START to our efforts on Iran and North Korea.

Again, I ask opponents of this treaty, are ideological goals worth the risk to our national security? Delaying a vote on New START into next year is a dangerous and unnecessary gamble with this Nation's security. I hope the opponents of this treaty will reconsider their opposition and recognize how important it is to this country's security to pass this treaty this year in this Congress.

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