NEWARK – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement after President Trump announced he plans to withdraw the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty):
“There is no doubt that Russia is responsible for the degradation of the INF treaty. However, withdrawing from this treaty without a comprehensive strategy for addressing its underlying strategic implications and without consulting Congress or our allies threatens long-term United States’ national security interests.
“The President could have worked within the parameters of the INF treaty to best safeguard our national security and our allies but instead he’s handing a political victory to Vladimir Putin and further isolating the United States on the international stage. This reckless and short-sighted decision allows Russia to produce and deploy more intermediate missiles to threaten our allies in Europe, showing once again the Trump administration’s eagerness to take unilateral actions over the objections of our closest allies to the serious detriment of their security.
“Congress must now put partisan bickering aside to constrain this administration’s efforts to destroy longstanding arms control agreements, prevent a nuclear arms race and prioritize the security of all Americans.”
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