© 2024 KGOU
News and Music for Oklahoma
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Inhofe: Now Is Not The Time To Reduce US Nukes

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
Gage Skidmore
/
Flickr

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) says now is not the time to reduce the country's nuclear arms forces around the globe.

Oklahoma's senior senator made the comments Wednesday in response to President Barack Obama's call during a speech in Berlin to reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles by one-third.

“Two years ago, 41 Senators wrote to the President urging him to consult first with Congress before directing changes to U.S. nuclear weapons policy or offering proposals to the Russian Federation for further nuclear arms reductions.  He ignored this advice," Inhofe says. "As a result, the President has made it difficult to achieve the consensus necessary to sustain the significant changes to the nation’s strategic posture that he now contemplates."

Obama spoke today at Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate, a powerful symbol of the Cold War. He says it's possible to ensure American security and a strong deterrent and also reduce nuclear weapons.

He says he intends to seek negotiated cuts with Russia to move beyond a Cold Warnuclear posture.

Obama is pledging to work with NATO allies to forge a new international framework for peaceful nuclear power. He says the U.S. will hold a summit in 2016 on securingnuclear materials around the world.

He's also calling for a treaty to end production of fissile material.

Inhofe in a statement called the president's announcement an example of the "triumph of hope over experience."

Among Inhofe's fears are that there are concerns about Russian compliance with existing nuclear arms control treaties. He also says a commitment by Obama and Congress to modernize the country's nuclear forces in return for ratification of a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty remains unfulfilled.

Obama says there's a temptation to turn inward now that barbed wire and concrete walls no longer separate East and West in Berlin.

He says he's returned to Berlin because the tests of our time require the same fighting spirit. He's pointing to poverty and unemployment as ongoing challenges requiring the world's attention.

Obama says, quote, "Our work is not yet done."

Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.
More News
Support nonprofit, public service journalism you trust. Give now.