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“NEW START” mentioning Roy Blunt was published in the Senate section on pages S163-S164 on Jan. 27.
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The publication is reproduced in full below:
NEW START
Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, we know it has been the tradition of the Senate to prioritize nominees for national security positions, and there has never been a more critical time to ensure that President Biden is surrounded by an experienced and capable team. From the threats posed by an increasingly hostile Iran to those by an unpredictable North Korea, there are many, many challenges on the horizon.
One of the first the administration must confront is the expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, also known as New START. This is the only remaining bilateral strategic arms agreement between the United States and Russia, which are the world's most powerful nuclear states, and it is set to expire in a matter of days.
Last fall, the Trump administration advocated for a 1-year extension of New START, with the condition that both countries would cap nuclear weapons--nuclear warheads during that period.
Unsurprisingly, Russia preferred a clean, 5-year extension with no warhead limitations. President Putin delayed the final stages of talks in the hopes that the potential Biden administration would strike a deal more favorable to Russia. And it appears now, at least as things stand today, that President Putin has hedged his bets correctly.
Following a call yesterday between President Biden and President Putin, the White House announced that the United States and Russia are set to extend New START for 5 years, with no conditions attached. This was President Biden's first major foreign policy test, and, unfortunately, he played right into Russia's hand.
For starters, it is no secret that New START was deeply flawed from the beginning. And it is no secret that Russia cheats, which is why verification is so essential.
The counting mechanisms in New START don't effectively keep our countries on a level playing field, which is the primary goal of any arms treaty because it promotes mutual deterrents. The treaty limits the number of bombers each nation could possess but places no limit on the number of warheads each bomber can support. Making matters worse, the limits only apply to strategic, not tactical, nuclear weapons. Russia has taken advantage of this loophole in New START, amassing some 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons compared to only 500 for the United States.
Russia's nuclear doctrine signals its increasing willingness to use those tactical nuclear weapons in a conflict, particularly in Europe, as it warily eyes NATO. Another 5 years under New START will allow Russia to continue growing its arsenal of tactical weapons and cement its advantage over the United States, perhaps permanently.
Once that happens, the likelihood of Russia deploying and ultimately using these weapons goes higher. These treaties ought to make the world safer, not a more dangerous place due to imbalances, the potential for mistakes, or miscalculation.
Beyond sheer numbers, there is also the question of trust or, I should say, of verification, because it is hardly controversial to say Russia isn't the most trustworthy partner. Last fall, the Kremlin attempted to poison a Putin opponent using a nerve agent. Russia has launched massive cyber attacks against private companies and government agencies here in the United States, the latest being the SolarWinds hack. And last year, it attempted to steal coronavirus vaccine data from the United States and some of our closest allies.
In short, Russia does not play by the rules, and New START does little to prevent further cheating. By granting Putin's request for a clean 5-year extension of New START, the Biden administration will not only be rewarding Russia for its hostile actions against the United States and our allies but also enabling Russia and other nuclear states to continue growing their stockpiles while the United States plays by outdated rules: no cap on nuclear warheads, no enhanced verification measures--in short, no need for assurances for Russia to follow the rules laid out in New START.
The expected treaty extension by the Biden administration wouldn't address any of those blinking red lights. The biggest failure of a clean, 5-year extension, though, is relinquishing the leverage we currently have to take a more comprehensive approach to nuclear disarmament.
As I said, the United States and Russia are the most powerful nuclear states in the world, but together we account for only two of the five nuclear armed states recognized by the nonproliferation treaty. Two of the other countries, the United Kingdom and France--both of whom provide regular information about the size and makeup of their nuclear arsenal--are not a problem.
The fifth and final power is China, one of the world's biggest secret keepers. It is a police state and opaque, as we learned once again when it came to the virus from Wuhan Province.
As if we needed a reminder of the critical information China withheld from the rest of the world, all we need to do is look at the COVID-19 pandemic. The first cases of COVID-19 appeared in China as early as November of 2019, and the Communist Party of China willfully withheld the information from the rest of the world, and it sought to downplay the potential impact of the virus. China repeatedly silenced the brave men and women of its own country who tried to sound the alarm, and, as a result, countries around the world were ill-prepared for these critical early stages of the fight against COVID-19. Now, more than 2.1 million people have died from this virus, including more than 420,000 Americans.
It is impossible to gauge how many of those lives could have been saved by earlier intervention, but this should serve as a cautionary tale when it comes to managing threats from China. We cannot allow China to continue sitting on the sidelines while the four other nuclear states play by the rules as we hope they will. The administration must push to get China to the negotiating table--at the negotiating table.
The thick cloak of secrecy surrounding the Chinese Communist Party has made it nearly impossible to verify information about the breadth and the depth of China's nuclear capabilities. What we do know is that China continues to pursue a nuclear triad, and experts estimate China to have about 300 nuclear weapons.
Assuming that figure is correct, it puts China slightly ahead of France and the United Kingdom in terms of raw numbers. That would make China the third most powerful nuclear state in the world, and we have every reason to believe that the size of its arsenal will continue to grow.
In May of 2019, then-Director for the Defense Intelligence Agency, GEN Robert Ashley, said China is likely to at least double the size of its nuclear stockpile over the next decade. He referred to this effort as ``the most rapid expansion and diversification of its nuclear arsenal in China's history.''
Despite this already large and constantly growing nuclear threat, there are virtually no measures in place to hold China accountable or to bring them to the table. A simple extension of the New START leaves in place a framework in which the Russians cheat, the Chinese are not at the table, and the United States is playing by the rules of a bygone era.
This must change. It must change. If you think about the fact that since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons have not been used on this planet, it is a result of tough negotiations and a system of mutual deterrence because we know, were nuclear weapons to be used, that it could result in the extermination of the planet.
So that is why deterrence is so important. That is why reciprocity and transparency are so important. The Cold War-era approach to nuclear disarmament does not make sense in the modern world. Rather than enter a 5-year extension of New START, the administration should use its leverage to convene multilateral talks. America should invite the other nuclear nonproliferation treaty states--Russia, China, France, and the UK--to the negotiating table and encourage multilateral talks aimed at limiting the growth of nuclear arsenals globally.
There is far too much at stake to merely cave in to the demands of President Putin in Moscow and cave in as well to the recalcitrance of Beijing to come to the table. The administration must pursue a multilateral, comprehensive approach. It is the only practical and workable solution to the vast nuclear threats posed by both China and Russia.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). Without objection, it is so ordered.
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