[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 116 (Wednesday, July 29, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8266-S8267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I thank Senator Kyl and Senator Levin for 
working out a second-degree amendment last week to Senator Kyl's 
earlier amendment, No. 1760, to the National Defense Authorization Act 
relating to the post-START agreement that the United States is 
negotiating with the Russian Federation. In my view, the earlier 
amendment--and section 1239 of the House version of the NDAA, on which 
that amendment was based--would have undermined the constitutional role 
of the Senate as the body that considers treaties, as well as the 
President's role in negotiating treaties. The Senate decided wisely not 
to adopt the House approach of trying to bar U.S. compliance with a 
treaty before the treaty has even been negotiated. The substitute 
amendment we adopted last week was a good result.
  The bill approved by the Senate, as amended by Senator Kyl's modified 
amendment, would require the President to report to the Congress on his 
plan to enhance the safety, security and reliability of the U.S. 
nuclear weapons stockpile, to modernize the nuclear weapons complex, 
and to maintain the delivery platforms. I would encourage the 
administration to see that requirement not as a burden, but as an 
opportunity. If U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban 
Treaty is to be approved by the Senate, Members will have to be 
convinced that the executive branch is prepared to sustain our nuclear 
deterrence by maintaining a stockpile of safe, secure, and reliable 
nuclear weapons, without resorting to nuclear testing. This report 
requirement underscores that concern and the need to address it 
forthrightly.
  I believe that this administration has the will to maintain our 
nuclear stockpile, and the successes of stockpile stewardship over the 
last decade have been greater than even its proponents predicted when 
we last considered CTBT. The report required by this amendment would 
offer an opportunity to explain to the Senate how far we have come, 
where we are going next, and how we will fund stockpile stewardship to 
ensure that we will sustain our deterrent posture even as the United 
States works with other countries to reduce the numbers and importance 
of these weapons worldwide. It may be only a preliminary report, if

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the National Defense Authorization Act is enacted well before the 
Nuclear Posture Review and the President's fiscal year 2011 budget 
request are completed, but it will still be an opportunity to educate 
the Senate.
  The Kyl amendment as modified also states that the Senate urges the 
President to maintain his position that the post-START agreement will 
not contain limitations on ballistic missile defense systems, space 
capabilities, or advanced conventional weapons systems of the United 
States. I am absolutely confident, based on the Obama-Medvedev 
statements of April 1 and July 6, 2009, that their instructions to 
negotiators are not to include such limitations in the agreement.
  For example, there will be ``a provision on the interrelationship of 
strategic offensive and strategic defensive arms,'' but ``a provision'' 
does not mean a limitation on U.S. missile defense or space 
capabilities. Similarly, the existing START Treaty has ``a provision'' 
regarding antiballistic missile systems but does not limit those 
systems.
  Regarding the Senate's desire to avoid limitations on ``advanced 
conventional weapons,'' I would just emphasize that the adoption of 
this substitute amendment is not intended to be a backdoor way to 
oppose limitations on strategic delivery vehicles.
  In short, I believe that the Kyl substitute amendment adopted last 
week should do no harm and that the administration can use it to begin 
the process of educating the Senate on a matter we will have to address 
in any event. Again, I commend Senators Kyl and Levin for reaching this 
result.

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