R.I.P. C.T.B.: Biden-Specter Amendment’s Phyrric Victory Shows Decisive Senate Opposition to Clinton’s Flawed Test Ban

(Washington, D.C.): Yesterday, the U.S. Senate handed the first crushing defeat to a major
presidential arms control initiative since its de facto rejection in 1979 of the “fatally
flawed”
SALT II Treaty. Ironically, Senators did so in adopting an amendment offered by Sens.
Joseph
Biden (D-DE) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) — but by a 49-44 margin,
with opponents casting 10
votes more than are needed to prevent ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban
(CTB).

The amendment in question fences nearly $29 million in the FY99 Foreign Operations
appropriations bill for “expenses related to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Preparatory Commission.” Its real purpose — as even its sponsors acknowledged in their fashion
— was more far-reaching: Sen. Specter called it “a test vote…as to the views of the Senate with
respect to the CTB.” Worse, Sen. Biden admitted that his opponents’ best argument was that the
amendment would effectively begin implementation of the CTBT prior to its
ratification. For
these reasons, the fact that the “test vote” mustered less than a majority of Senators and
far
less than a two-thirds majority effectively dooms this defective accord href=”#N_1_”>⁽¹⁾ and should
preclude its further U.S. implementation absent the Senate’s advice and consent.

Enter Senator Lott

This point was made authoritatively by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott
(R-MS) who, in a
brief but powerful statement at the end of debate on the Biden-Specter measure, declared:
“Anything less than 67 votes in support of this amendment will send a strong signal that
the Senate is prepared to reject this treaty.”

Sen. Lott — whose leadership of late on this and a number of other security policy matters has
been most commendable⁽²⁾ — also made the following
substantive arguments against this initiative:

• “I do want to urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. First, there is no
  treaty to
  monitor, and there will not be one in the foreseeable future. Until all 44 specified
  nations ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, it will not enter into force. href=”#N_3_”>⁽³⁾ So to be
  providing funds before we have anything to monitor seems very questionable to me.”
• “We have not acted on this treaty. And certainly something of this magnitude should be
  given
  very serious, careful and extensive thought by the committee of jurisdiction and by the full
  Senate. We should not provide the funding that prejudges whatever the Senate may or
  may not do before it takes up the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.”
• “I have grave reservations, I admit, about whether the CTBT is in America’s
  national
  interest. I am not convinced it is effectively verifiable. I am convinced it will limit
  our
  ability to maintain the safety and reliability of our vital nuclear deterrent.”
• “Whatever the arguments for or against the treaty, putting millions in this
  organization
  does not make sense at this time. So I urge the defeat of this amendment.”

Senator Helms Argues for Defenses, Not More Phony Arms
Control

Sen Lott’s remarks were amplified by a statement submitted by Senator Jesse Helms
(R-NC), the
Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee which has jurisdiction over the CTB Treaty. Sen.
Helms warned in particular against squandering the Senate’s valuable time debating the merits of
a test ban at this juncture, especially in light of the other high priorities in front of it. He properly
identifies as paramount among these the need to rectify America’s vulnerability to missile
attack and to eschew new treaty arrangements proposed by the Clinton Administration
that would perpetuate and compound that vulnerability. href=”#N_4_”>⁽⁴⁾ Highlights of Sen. Helms’
remarks included the following:

“The last thing the United States needs is another arms control
treaty…It is time
that the Foreign Relations Committee review the antiquated ABM Treaty, which
precludes the United States from deploying a missile defense. Sad to say, the
Specter amendment plays into the hands of those who seek to detract attention from
this effort….In presuming to fund the Preparatory Commission, and in attempting to
dictate to the Foreign Relations Committee that CTBT consideration take precedence
over the planned ABM Treaty hearings, the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Specter)
obviously is willing to place a higher priority on the test ban than on protecting the
American people from ballistic missile attack.

“Finally…India’s (and Pakistan’s) [nuclear and missile tests] should make clear to
all just how vital the U.S. nuclear deterrent is to the national security of the
United States. What is needed, at this time, is not a scramble for an arms
control treaty that prohibits the United States from guaranteeing the safety
and reliability of its nuclear stockpile. What is needed is a careful,
bottoms-up review of the state of the U.S. nuclear infrastructure, which I
fear is in sad repair after six years of a moratorium. I expect that, after
undertaking such a review, the United States will find that the CTBT is the
very last thing the United States should consider doing.“

The Bottom Line

Senator Lott’s vote and that of 43 other Senators against the Biden-Specter
amendment
marks an important new high-water mark in the Republican-controlled Senate’s
performance of its oversight and advisory functions on security policy. It comes at a
moment when such functions have rarely been more needed by the Nation — as the fecklessness,
dishonesty and malfeasance of the executive branch becomes an embarrassment at home and an
ever-more-serious liability abroad.

With its vote on the Biden-Specter amendment, the Senate has surely saved the taxpayer the
$29
million the Clinton Administration proposed to squander on the CTB’s new multilateral
implementing organization. Far more importantly, it has taken a step that may preserve the safety,
reliability and effectiveness of America’s nuclear deterrent — something with which, as Sen. Lott
has observed, the Comprehensive Test Ban is incompatible.

It is to be hoped that the Senate will shortly dispatch with equal authority other treaties
unworthy
of its advice and consent — the two new ABM agreements and the Kyoto Protocol to the Global
Climate Change Treaty. By so doing, Senators can make clear that there is no legal basis
for
the insidious and unconstitutional practice of implementing such accords absent their
ratification and, it is to be hoped, demonstrate their determination to bring that practice to
an immediate halt with respect to the programs and resource allocations of the U.S.
government.

– 30 –

1. See the Center’s Decision Briefs entitled
India’s Nuclear Tests Show Folly of Clinton’s
C.T.B. (No. 98-D 86, 19 May 1998),
Death Throes of the C.T.B.? As George Will
Demonstrates, Claims for Test Ban Become Ever more Contorted, Untenable ( href=”index.jsp?section=papers&code=98-D_102″>No. 98-D 102, 8
June 1998) and Warning to the Nuclear Labs: Don’t Count on ‘Stockpile
Stewardship’ to
Maintain Either Overhead Or Confidence (No.
97-D 183, 1 December 1997).

2. See the Center’s Decision Brief entitled
Senator Lott ‘Grows’ in Office (No.
98-D 108, 15
June 1998).

3. This group includes the likes of India, Pakistan, North Korea and
Iran — a group which can
hardly be expected to take such a step, much less conform to the treaty’s requirements if in fact
they did.

4. Just such a question will be considered later this week when the
Senate votes to end cloture on
S. 1873, the American Missile Protection Act. For more information on this critical piece of
legislation, see the Center’s Decision Briefs entitled ‘My God,
The Threat is Right Now’ (No.
98-D 155, 1 September 1998) and Shame, Shame: By One Vote, Minority of
Senators
Perpetuate America’s Vulnerability to Missile Attack ( href=”index.jsp?section=papers&code=98-D_84″>No. 98-D 84, 14 May 1998).