DATE=10/9/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON-TEST BAN (L)
NUMBER=2-254843
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


Intro:  President Clinton has again urged the Senate 
to postpone Tuesday's scheduled vote on the global 
treaty banning underground nuclear testing, saying 
defeat of the treaty would cost the United States its 
leadership role in combating the spread of weapons of 
mass destruction. V-O-A's David Gollust has details 
from the White House.

Text:  The White House has known for several days it 
stands no chance of getting the two-thirds Senate 
majority needed to ratify.  And Mr. Clinton is urging 
a postponement to allow time for more thorough debate 
after political passions subside.

In his regular Saturday radio address, broadcast from 
Chicago, Mr. Clinton said no treaty has been rejected 
by the Senate since the Treaty of Versailles that 
established the League of Nations after the First 
World War:

            /// Clinton actuality one ///

      We all know what America's walking away from the 
      world after World War One brought us: in the 
      Depression and the Second World War.  If our 
      Senate rejected this treaty, it would be a 
      dangerous U-turn away from our role as the 
      world's leader against the spread of nuclear 
      weapons.

            /// End act ///

Mr. Clinton said while a treaty defeat would not end 
the United States'own moratorium on underground 
testing, it would give prospective nuclear powers a 
"green light' to test and perhaps open the way for 
existing weapons states to test and deploy more 
advanced systems.

He said leading scientists, including 32 Nobel prize 
winners, contest the notion of treaty opponents that 
the treaty would undermine the reliability of the U-S 
nuclear arsenal.  And he said the treaty would enhance 
efforts to detect the secretive low-level tests that 
some treaty opponents believe have been conducted by 
Russia:

            /// Clinton act two ///

      The treaty will strengthen our ability to 
      determine whether other countries are engaged in 
      suspicious activity, with on-site inspections 
      and a global network of over 300 sensors 
      including 33 in Russia, 1l in China and 17 in 
      the Middle East.  We could catch cheaters and 
      mobilize the world against them.  None of that 
      will happen it we don't ratify the treaty.

            /// End act ///

Mr. Clinton said in Canada Friday he would be willing 
to see a Senate vote put off for a long as a year -- 
if the Republican leadership agreed to extended 
hearings and debate later.  But he has resisted a 
demand by Republican leaders that he request in 
writing that the entire matter be put off until after 
he has left office and a new Congress convenes in 
2001. (Signed)

NEB/DAG/JP




09-Oct-1999 16:08 PM EDT (09-Oct-1999 2008 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.