Joe Biden

Mr. BIDEN

Mr. BIDEN. I reserve the remainder of my time.

Mr. BIDEN. Oh, there is 1 minute remaining on the amendment? Mr. President, in that case I have another 10 minutes. No, if the majority is ready to yield back their time, I will yield back my minute.

Mr. BIDEN. I yield myself 1 minute on the time left.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I yield the remainder of the time to the Senator from Nebraska.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, on this amendment, of my 10 minutes, I will yield 7 minutes to the Senator from Rhode Island. But prior to doing that, let me say briefly what this amendment does. This amendment strikes a condition in the treaty that sets a verification standard that, if it were in the treaty, would not be able to be met; therefore, it would kill the treaty. I will not speak more at this time. I yield to the Senator from Rhode Island.

Mr. BIDEN. I ask unanimous consent that there be a total of 20 minutes on this amendment equally divided.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time consumed by the Senator from North Carolina in his previous speech be deducted from the 10 minutes of time allotted to his side, and that 10 minutes remain on the side of the Senator from Delaware on this amendment.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BIDEN. In other words, the Senator has already spoken on the intelligence issue. The time he has spoken on it would be taken out of the 10 minutes that we are about to agree to on the amendment I have not yet sent to the desk. The Senator was under the impression I already sent the amendment to strike. Amendment No. 49 (Purpose: To strike condition No. 33, relating to effective verification)

Mr. BIDEN. The attempt is being made, as we speak, to reduce the time on those amendments. I respectfully suggest that on the next amendment that I am going to move--my intention was to move to strike the intelligence provision--or verification, I should say, No. 33, and that instead of an hour equally divided on that amendment, I respectfully suggest we have 20 minutes equally divided on that amendment. Is that all right with the Senator?

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, if I could ask a parliamentary inquiry. A lot of our colleagues are looking to determine when the final vote will take place. It is my understanding that the Senator from Delaware has the option to move to strike three more conditions--one relating to intelligence verification, one relating to inspectors, and one relating to articles X and XI. On each of those motions of the Senator from Delaware, there is an hour reserved, equally divided, is that correct?

Mr. BIDEN. I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished Senator from Michigan. Next, I will let people know that I understand Senator Inhofe is going to speak in opposition to this motion to strike. Then I would like to yield, just to let people know, 5 minutes to the distinguished Senator from Virginia. That is for informational purposes. I am not asking UC. I now yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Michigan.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, how much time remains for me?

Mr. BIDEN. I yield my colleague another 30 seconds.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I yield the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts up to 10 minutes.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, this is condition No. 30. As was indicated at the outset of the unanimous-consent agreement, the Senate has now agreed to 28 of the 33 conditions that were attached to the treaty that is before us today. As I indicated at that time that I would be moving to strike five of the conditions, any one of which--at least four of which--if adopted, would essentially vitiate the treaty; would make our ratification useless. They are killer amendments. This is one of those amendments. Mr. President, condition No. 30 would hold hostage our joining the Chemical Weapons Convention to the condition that rogue states--several rogue states, such as Iraq, Libya and North Korea--would have to sign and ratify the treaty before we became party to the treaty. This has a very perverse impact. The first impact is we wouldn't be in the treaty. We would not have ratified the treaty, if we ratified this condition. Second, it has a perverse impact. It would prevent the United States from participating in the convention until a band of 2- bit regimes that specialize in flaunting norms of civilized behavior decide for us when we should be a member of this treaty. Seventy-four nations have already signed onto it. This condition turns the present global arrangement on its head. Instead of the civilized nations of the world setting the rules, this condition effectively let's the villains determine the rules of the road and American policy. This condition ignores the critical fact that regardless of what the rogue states do, regardless of whether we join the CWC, or not, we have decided unilaterally to destroy our chemical weapons stockpile. We will not use chemical weapons to respond to a chemical weapons attack. That is a judgment our military and our last Commander in Chief and this one has made. Instead, we will rely on what General Schwarzkof said, and General Powell, General Shalikashvili, and others will rely upon our overwhelming nonchemical military capabilities to deter and retaliate against the use of chemical weapons. The best way to affect the behavior of these rogue states is to bring to bear the combined weight of the civilized nations of the world to isolate, sanction, and target those nations who would continue to produce chemical weapons in defiance of the creation of this international norm. But, Mr. President, first we have to establish the norm. If the United States of America says we will not join unless the bad guys join, then there is no reasonable prospect that such a norm will be established. As Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has noted, to say that we should not have a CWC because there will be people out there who will continue to produce chemical weapons, or who will cheat, is a little bit like saying we should not have laws because people will break them. We should not have laws against murder because we know people are going to murder people. So have no laws against murder. The point is that today there is nothing illegal--let's get this straight--under international law about producing chemical weapons, developing chemical weapons, or stockpiling chemical weapons. The purported Libyan chemical weapons program is completely legal today. The Iraqi chemical stockpile is completely legal today. In fact, there is nothing in international law that prohibits the use of chemical weapons internally. Like Saddam Hussein's poison gas attack against the Kurds within Iraq, there is nothing illegal about having or using these weapons in your own country. That will change once the CWC is in force. To quote Gen. Colin Powell, ``For us to reject this treaty now because there are rogue states outside that treaty is the equivalent of saying that we should not have joined NATO because Russia wasn't part of NATO.'' That is former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell-- not me. This treaty will establish standards by which to judge others. If it is violated--that is, if the treaty is violated --it will provide the basis for harsh action to punish and bring violators into compliance. The opponents will say that norms are meaningless unless there is a will to enforce those norms. They are right. But on that point, I would point out that without a norm there is nothing to enforce. The bottom line is this: With the treaty we will have more tools and greater flexibility to act against those countries that threaten us and their neighbors. Should we choose military action we would be able to justify it as a measure taken to enforce the terms of a treaty to which we and 160 other nations who are signatories--only 74 ratified--are parties. North Korea is not. Libya is not. But 160 other nations have signed, and we are going to say that we will not join unless North Korea joins. As Gen. Colin Powell said, I am glad these folks weren't around when NATO was starting up to say we are not going to have NATO because Russia can't be a part. Mr. President, I reserve the remainder of my time. I yield the floor.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished Senator from Maryland.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I yield 7 minutes to my friend from New Mexico.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I withhold my suggestion of the absence of a quorum. I yield 7 minutes to my friend from North Dakota.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I yield 3 minutes to my friend from Minnesota.

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Joe Biden

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