Senate Proceeding on Dec 22nd, 2010 :: 4:15:35 to 4:24:55
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4:15:33 to 4:15:54( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: just everyone should be not much longer. note -- withdraw that. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: madam president, i wasn't going to speak again, but i was prompted to by my colleague from alabama, a friend and someone for whom i have great respect.

4:15:35 to 4:24:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Byron Dorgan

4:15:55 to 4:16:16( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: but the presentation by my colleague from alabama suggested that the president, president obama, is moving in the direction of disarming us. the implication is injuring our national security by proposing that we have fewer nuclear weapons. let me make a point that i think is so important for the record. i hope it is not now and it never is considered a source of

4:16:17 to 4:16:37( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: weakness for this country to aspire to have a planet with fewer nuclear weapons. it ought to be a source of strength that we understand that it becomes or burden as a world leader, economic leader and nuclear power, to try to reduce the number of nuclear weapons on this earth. this president has not proposed

4:16:38 to 4:16:59( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: anything that would injure our national security. he's not proposing anything that is unilateral. he has negotiated and his team has negotiated a very strong arms reduction treaty with the russians. i know there's been great discussion about modernization, whether there's enough money. about why tactical nuclear weapons weren't included.

4:17:00 to 4:17:20( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: about just the issue of whether it limits us with respect to missle defense. all of those issues have been answered. all have been responded to. but, madam president, the question, it seems to me, for us now and for all americans, and particularly those who serve in the congress in the future is

4:17:21 to 4:17:41( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: will we be a world leader in pushing for a reduction in the number of nuclear weapons on this planet? there are some 25,000 nuclear weapons on this planet. the loss of one in the hands after terrorist or a rogue nation exploded in a major city on earth will change everything. now, my colleagues are probably tired of hearing me say it, but

4:17:42 to 4:18:02( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: i have in my desk, if kept, a piece of a soviet union bomber, a very small piece of a wing strut from a soviet union bomber. we didn't shoot it down. we negotiated that bomber down by sawing money to -- money to

4:18:03 to 4:18:27( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: saw the wings off. there are submarines that were not destroyed in battle. russian submarines that are gone. we ground them up and took them apart. bombers. the wings were sold off and they were sold for scrap and nuclear

4:18:28 to 4:18:49( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: weapons in si silos aimed at american cities are gone. one was aimed at the ukraine, now sunflour seeds -- sunflour seeds adorn the area. fewer nuclear wes, fewer delivery vehicles, bombers,

4:18:50 to 4:19:10( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: submarines, missles. we know this works. my colleague seems to suggest that it would be a horrible thing if the world, the entire world, were rid of nuclear weapons. i would hope that every united states senator, every united states senator would aspire to have that be the case, a world

4:19:11 to 4:19:31( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: in which there wasn't one weapon left. for almost surely almost every offensive weapon on this planet halls been used and we need to be very concerned about the number of nuclear weapons, the spread of nuclear weapons, the need, the desire for terrorists to acquire nuclear weapons. that's why these treaties and these negotiations on arms reduction is so unbelievably

4:19:32 to 4:19:53( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: important. never has it been more important because now there is a new threat. they don't wear uniforms, they don't belong to one country, the terrorist threat and they strive mightily to acquire nuclear weapons. so this treaty noarktd at the start -- negotiated at the start

4:19:54 to 4:20:14( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: by the previous president and concluded by this president strengthens our country, represents our best national security interests and i would just ask the question of anyone who believes that it is a threat for us to begin reducing nuclear weapons through arms negotiations with others who have nuclear weapons, who, if not us, will lead the way to do

4:20:15 to 4:20:38( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: that? if not us, who? is there another country, you think, that will aspire to provide leadership to reduce the number of nuclear weapons? if there is, tell us the name. because we all know better than that. this responsibility falls on our shoulders. we are the leading nuclear power on this earth.

4:20:39 to 4:21:00( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: it is our responsibility, it is this country's responsibility to lead. and i don't want -- ever want anybody to suggest that it is some sort of weakness for this president or any president to engage in arms reduction negotiations. that is a source of strength and this treaty was negotiated carefully. i was on the national security working group.

4:21:01 to 4:21:22( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: we had briefing after briefing in top-secret venues. this treaty was carefully negotiated. it represents our best interests. it represents the reduction of nuclear weapons, a reduction of delivery vehicles and represents, in my judgment, another step -- another step in reducing the nuclear threat. it is not even a giant step, but

4:21:23 to 4:21:44( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: it certainly is a step in the right direction. this represents our best national security interests. and this president has demonstrated, yes, he would like a world with fewer nuclear weapons. he would like a world, as would i, with no nuclear weapons at some point. but this president will never allow negotiations or never allow circumstances in which

4:21:45 to 4:22:06( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: this country is unarmed or unprepared or unable to meet its national security needs. he hasn't done that, not in this treaty and will not do it in the future. i did just want to stand up and say that because of the comments early -- earlier by the senator who suggested that there is some sort of weakness by a country to

4:22:07 to 4:22:29( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: ever not have nuclear weapons on this planet. i have spoken about the loss of the loss of one nuclear weapon. the story of a c.i.a. agent named dragon flier, who reported one month after 9/11 that a 10-kiloton weapon had been stolen from russia and that it

4:22:30 to 4:22:50( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: was to be smuggled into new york and it was to be detonated. it was discovered a month later that that was probably not a credible piece of information, but as they did the diagnosis of it, they discovered it's plausible that someone could have acquired a 10-kiloton nuclear weapon from russia.

4:22:51 to 4:23:11( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: plausible had they done so, they could have smuggled it into an american city and plausible that they could have detonated. then you're not talking about 3,000 deaths. you're talking about 100,000, 200,000 deaths. so many areas in this administration the work we have done to secure loose nuclear

4:23:12 to 4:23:32( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: materials, circumstances where plutonium or highly enriched uranium in the size of a litter or -- liter or the size of a small can of soda capable to kill tens of thousands of people with a nuclear weapon. this is serious business. at a time when we debate a lot

4:23:33 to 4:23:53( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: of things, serious and not so serious, this is serious business. the work that has been done by the chairman and the ranking member, and i watched a lot of this, is extraordinary work, and so too is the work by this president, by the negotiators. my colleague described the folks at the state department have had a significant role as well.

4:23:54 to 4:24:14( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: let us not ever think this is a source of weakness to be negotiating verifiable reductions in nuclear weapons among those that possess them. that is a source of strength and it's important for our kids and grandchildren that we succeed by continuing to do that with treaty that's make sense -- the best sense for this country's national security's interest.

4:24:15 to 4:24:35( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: madam president, i see the senator from massachusetts does not yet have a unanimous consent request, but i know all my colleagues are age you shus to see -- are anxious to see one. let me yield the floor and i would expect as the majority leader indicated, within the next voting and i think that's good news. i yield the floor that a quorum is not present.

4:24:36 to 4:24:51( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.