Senate Adopts Lieberman-Sessions Amendment on Missile Defense

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) lauded the Senate's unanimous adoption last night of an amendment to the fiscal year 2010 defense appropriations bill that they introduced, along with a bipartisan group of co-sponsors, to protect funding for the continued development of the two-stage Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) missile.

The Lieberman-Sessions amendment will allow the Missile Defense Agency to use up to $151 million of funds provided for in the FY09 or FY10 defense appropriations acts for a long-range missile defense system in Europe to support the continued development or testing of the two-stage GBI program, which the Secretary of Defense has identified as an essential "hedge" against the risks in the administration's proposed missile defense plan for Europe. It will also protect funding for this program against other uses and require a report detailing specific options for how the two-stage GBI could be deployed to enhance U.S. defenses against a long-range threat.

"This amendment reaffirms the Senate's position that the United States should not settle for any missile defense system that leaves our homeland more vulnerable to attack," said Lieberman. "We will continue to fight for missile defenses that can protect both our allies in Europe and the Middle East, as well as the continental United States from the threat of Iran's growing missile programs."

"It is critical that we take the necessary steps to ensure a layered missile defense system that would protect both Americans and our European allies from an ever increasing Iranian threat," Sessions said. "The American people do not want us to walk away from our responsibility to defend America or our commitments to our friends around the world. Failure to maintain this capability is an invitation to foreign nations to aggressively pursue intercontinental missile technology."

Additional co-sponsors of the amendment were Senators Evan Bayh (D-ID), John McCain (R-AZ), James Inhofe (R-OK), David Vitter (R-LA), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Bob Bennett (R-UT), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Mark Begich (D-AK).