[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 130 (Friday, September 25, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S10982]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        WE NEED TO RATIFY THE COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY NOW

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, yesterday marked the 35th Anniversary of 
the Senate's ratification of the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963. 
Unfortunately, we still have not achieved the larger goal of ratifying 
the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In fact, the Treaty has languished 
in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for a year with no debate, no 
action, and no results.
  As President Kennedy said about the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963, 
``The conclusion of such a treaty * * * would check the spiraling arms 
race in one of its most dangerous areas. It would place the nuclear 
powers in a position to deal more effectively with one of the greatest 
hazards which man faces in 1963, the further spread of nuclear arms.'' 
Thirty-five years later, those words are truer than ever.
  Nuclear proliferation is one of the most serious national security 
threats we face. Earlier this year, the nuclear tests in India and 
Pakistan reminded us that we must do all we can to ratify the 
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as soon as possible.
  On Wednesday, at the United Nations, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of 
Pakistan announced his intent to sign the test ban treaty within the 
next year. The Prime Minister linked this decision to the lifting of 
sanctions imposed in the wake of last May's nuclear tests. Yesterday, 
India's Prime Minister Vajpayee followed suit and announced to the U.N. 
General Assembly that his nation would also sign the Treaty within the 
year.
  If both Pakistan and India sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, 
only North Korea will remain outside the worldwide group of nations in 
continuing to develop their nuclear program. Prompt U.S. ratification 
of the Treaty would not only demonstrate our support for Pakistan and 
India, but also encourage North Korea to join the world and reject 
nuclear testing.
  The recent tests by India and Pakistan are ominous proof that the 
greatest threat to humanity is still the danger of nuclear war. The 
CTBT would give the United States access to a vast worldwide network of 
nuclear monitoring stations. These additional stations would blanket 
the globe with sensors that can detect radiation, feel the ground shake 
from a nuclear test, or hear the sounds emanating underwater from a 
nuclear explosion. This network is possible only through the 
cooperative efforts of the CTBT, and it will clearly strengthen our 
national security.
  We face a unique opportunity in the Senate, an opportunity to help 
the world pull back from the nuclear brink and end nuclear testing once 
and for all. Other nations look to the United States for international 
leadership. President Clinton has done his part, in signing the Treaty 
and submitting it to the Senate for ratification, as the Constitution 
requires. Now the Senate should do its part, and ratify the 
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
  Treaty ratification is the single most important step we can take 
today to reduce the dangers of nuclear war.

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