Congressional Documents[Page: S3686]
The Senate continued with the consideration of the treaty.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous agreement, there will be 2 minutes equally divided on the Harkin amendment No. 2312.
We will not proceed until the Senate is in order.
Who yields time? If no one yields time, time runs equally on each side.
Mr. BIDEN addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the Harkin amendment. Everyone should understand one thing. This has nothing to do with the expansion of NATO. Under the resolution we are passing, we say we are not going to do anything beyond what we now do to contribute to the common budget of NATO, which, on average, is 25 percent.
There are three common budgets. My friend from Iowa comes along and says: Look, we are not going to allow you to do what you were allowed to do now for Greece, Turkey, Germany. For example, when we passed the CFE agreement, we agreed we would get rid of a lot of materiel. That materiel was worth the sum total of about $185 million. We gave it to Turkey, Portugal, Germany, et cetera.
Under this amendment, we would not be able to do that kind of thing for any of the new countries if they come in. In addition to that, we would be limited to be engaged in any foreign military sales to these countries. Nothing to do with common budgets.
I urge you to vote no.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired. The Senator from Iowa has 1 minute.
Mr. HARKIN. As former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Jack Matlock warned:
We're going to have a dilemma that we either encourage them--new NATO members--to divert resources they don't have or we end up fooling the American people about what it's going to cost them.
That is what this amendment is about, not fooling the American people.
My amendment does two things. It requires a full accounting of all U.S. contributions, all for NATO expansion by including the U.S. contributions to the national governments when calculating the U.S. share of enlargement costs.
Right now, we are limited to 25 percent for the common costs. That does not take into account the national costs. What I am saying with this amendment is, sure, we will provide our fair share, but why should we do more than 25 percent.
And please do not fall for the argument that we could not have done this for Greece and others in the past. The cold war is over. Europe is rich. These countries have money. We should not just stick U.S. taxpayers with the total bill.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
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Mr. HARKIN. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment. The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
The result was announced--yeas 24, nays 76, as follows:
The executive amendment (No. 2312) was rejected.
Mr. CAMPBELL. I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay it on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.