[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5547-S5548]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY

 Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the 
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty [CTBT]. Along with many of my colleagues, 
I call upon the Senate to ratify this important treaty which will help 
to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, improve the 
environment in which we live, save billions of dollars, and enhance the 
security of our Nation.
  The CTBT prohibits all nuclear test explosions worldwide. The treaty 
establishes an international agency to coordinate nuclear policy and 
verify test ban compliance through an International Monitoring System, 
onsite inspections, consultation and clarification, and confidence-
building measures. The treaty is quite simple, really, and it is 
something that Americans have wanted for a long time.
  ``The conclusion of such a treaty * * * would check the spiraling 
arms race in one of its most dangerous areas. It would place nuclear 
powers in a position to deal more effectively with one of the great 
hazards which man faces * * * the further spread of nuclear arms. It 
would increase our security; it would decrease the prospects of war. 
Surely this goal is sufficiently important to require our steady 
pursuit, yielding neither to the temptation to give up the whole effort 
nor the temptation to give up our insistence on vital and responsible 
safeguards.''
  Those words, so appropriate today, were spoken 34 years ago by 
President John F. Kennedy, in an historic speech at American 
University. In that speech, the President announced the beginning of 
high-level discussions among the United States, the Union of Soviet 
Socialist Republics, and the United Kingdom regarding ``a comprehensive 
test ban treaty.'' Even then,

[[Page S5548]]

long before the demise of the Soviet Union rendered the United States 
the sole remaining superpower, President Kennedy and many others 
recognized the dangers inherent in nuclear testing, and the many 
benefits of a test ban.
  A test ban will curb the spread of nuclear weapons, helping to keep 
them out of the hands of rogue states and terrorists. A test ban will 
mean that children do not have to grow up in areas contaminated by 
nuclear explosions. A test ban will mean that money spent on 
maintaining test sites and running tests--hundreds of millions of 
dollars a year in the United States alone--could be spent on education, 
health, and other priorities of the American people. In short, a 
nuclear test ban will enhance the military, political, and economic 
security of our Nation. That's why President Clinton has signed and 158 
countries in the United Nations have endorsed the Comprehensive Test 
Ban Treaty. That is also why 80 percent of Americans are calling upon 
us to ratify it.
  When President Kennedy began test ban negotiations 34 years ago, he 
was realistic about the challenges in negotiating with the Soviet 
Union. He said, ``Our hopes must be tempered with the caution of 
history, but with our hopes go the hopes of all mankind.'' Today, Mr. 
President, history and hope are on our side. Now is the time to 
conclude the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Now is our chance to 
fulfill the hopes of all mankind.

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