    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [October 13, 1999]
    [Pages 1768-1769]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Senate Action on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
    and an Exchange With Reporters
    October 13, 1999

        The President. Good evening. I am very disappointed that the United
    States Senate voted not to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
    Treaty. This agreement is critical to protecting the American people
    from the dangers of nuclear war. It is, therefore, well worth fighting
    for. And I assure you, the fight is far from over.
        I want to say to our citizens, and to people all around the world,
    that the United States will stay true to our tradition of global
    leadership against the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The Senate
    has taken us on a detour. But America eventually always returns to the
    main road, and we will do so again. When all is said and done, the
    United States will ratify the test ban treaty.
        Opponents of the treaty have offered no alternative, no other means
    of keeping countries around the world from developing nuclear arsenals
    and threatening our security. So we have to press on and do the right
    thing for our children's future.
        We will press on to strengthen the worldwide consensus in favor of
    the treaty. The United States will continue, under my Presidency, the
    policy we have observed since 1992 of not conducting nuclear tests.
    Russia, China, Britain, and France have joined us in this moratorium.
    Britain and France have done the sensible thing and ratified this
    treaty. I hope not only they, but also Russia, China, will all, along
    with other countries, continue to refrain from nuclear testing.
        I also encourage, strongly, countries that have not yet signed or
    ratified this treaty to do so. And I will continue to press the case
    that this treaty is in the interest of the American people.
        The test ban treaty will restrict the development of nuclear weapons
    worldwide at a time when America has an overwhelming military and
    technological advantage. It will give us the tools to strengthen our
    security, including the global network of sensors to detect nuclear
    tests, the opportunity to demand onsite inspections, and the means to
    mobilize the world against potential violators. All these things, the
    Republican majority in the Senate would gladly give away.
        The Senators who voted against the treaty did more than disregard
    these benefits. They turned aside the best advice--let me say this
    again--they turned aside the best advice of our top military leaders,
    including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and four of his predecessors. They ignored the conclusion
    of 32 Nobel Prize winners in physics, and many other leading scientists,
    including the heads of our nuclear laboratories, that we can maintain a
    strong nuclear force without testing.
        They clearly disregarded the views of the American people who have
    consistently and strongly supported this treaty ever since it was first
    pursued by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. The American people do not
    want to see unnecessary nuclear tests here or anywhere around the world.
        I know that some Senate Republicans favored this treaty. I know
    others had honest questions but simply didn't have enough time for
    thorough answers. I know that many would have supported this treaty had
    they been free to vote their conscience and if they had been able to do
    what we always do with such treaties, which is to add certain
    safeguards, certain understandings that protect America's interest and
    make clear the meaning of the words.

    [[Page 1769]]

        Unfortunately, the Senate majority made sure that no such safeguards
    could be appended. Many who had questions about the treaty worked hard
    to postpone the vote because they knew a defeat would be damaging to
    America's interest and to our role in leading the world away from
    nonproliferation. But for others, we all know that foreign policy,
    national security policy has become just like every domestic issue:
    politics, pure and simple.
        For 2 years, the opponents of this treaty in the Senate refused to
    hold a single hearing. Then they offered a take-or-leave-it deal: to
    decide this crucial security issue in a week, with just 3 days of
    hearings and 24 hours of debate. They rejected my request to delay the
    vote and permit a serious process so that all the questions could be
    evaluated. Even worse, many Republican Senators apparently committed to
    oppose this treaty before there was an agreement to bring it up, before
    they ever heard a single witness or understood the issues. Never before
    has a serious treaty involving nuclear weapons been handled in such a
    reckless and ultimately partisan way.
        The Senate has a solemn responsibility under our Constitution to
    advise and consent in matters involving treaties. The Senate has simply
    not fulfilled that responsibility here. This issue should be beyond
    politics, because the stakes are so high. We have a fundamental
    responsibility to do everything we can to limit the spread of nuclear
    weapons and the chance of nuclear war. We must decide whether we're
    going to meet it.
        Will we ratify an agreement that can keep Russia and China from
    testing and developing new, more sophisticated advanced weapons; an
    agreement that could help constrain nuclear weapons programs in India,
    Pakistan, and elsewhere, at a time of tremendous volatility, especially
    on the Indian sub-continent? For now, the Senate has said, no.
        But I am sending a different message. We want to limit the nuclear
    threat. We want to bring the test ban treaty into force.
        I am profoundly grateful to the Senate proponents of this treaty,
    including the brave Republicans who stood with us, for their
    determination and their leadership. I am grateful to all those advocates
    for arms control and national security and all the religious leaders who
    have joined us in this struggle.
        The test ban treaty is strongly in America's interest. It is still
    on the Senate calendar. It will not go away. It must not go away. I
    believe that if we have a fair and thorough hearing process, the
    overwhelming majority of the American people will still agree with us
    that this treaty is in our interest. I believe in the wisdom of the
    American people, and I am confident that in the end, it will prevail.
        Q. Mr. President, when you say the fight is far from over, sir, do
    you mean that you expect this treaty to be brought up again during your
    term in office?
        The President. I mean, I think that we could have had a regular
    hearing process in which the serious issues that need to be discussed
    would have been discussed, and in which, as the Senate leaders both
    agreed yesterday when they thought there was an agreement and they shook
    hands on an agreement, would have resulted in next year being devoted to
    considering the treaty, dealing with its merits, and then, barring
    extraordinary circumstances, would have put off a vote until the
    following year.
        By their actions today the Republican majority has said they want us
    to continue to discuss and debate this. They weren't interested in the
    safeguards; they weren't interested in a serious debate; they weren't
    interested in a serious process. So they could have put this on a track
    to be considered in an appropriate way, which I strongly supported. They
    decided otherwise.
        And we, therefore, have to make it clear, those of us who agree,
    that it is crazy for America to walk away from Britain and France, 11 of
    our NATO Allies, the heads of our nuclear labs, the Joint Chiefs of
    Staff, 32 Nobel laureates, and the whole world, having depended on us
    for all these decades, to lead the fight for nonproliferation.
    Therefore, we have to keep this issue alive and continue to argue it in
    the strongest and most forceful terms.
        I wish we could have had a responsible alternative. I worked until
    the 11th hour to achieve it. This was a political deal. And I hope it
    will get the treatment from the American people it richly deserves.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:37 p.m. on the South Grounds at the White
    House.