U.S. State Department - 12.20.2002

 

U.S. State Department: Washington File

Lugar Sees Active Agenda for Senate Foreign Relations Committee 

Senator Richard Lugar, who returns to the U.S. Senate in January as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says that in the first 90 days his committee will focus on a post- disarmament Iraq, reconstruction programs in Afghanistan, continued nuclear arms reductions between the United States and Russia, and efforts to provide economic stability for Latin America.

At a Washington Foreign Press Center briefing December 19, Lugar said the committee will begin with a series of hearings that will focus on a panorama of foreign policy interests of the United States and other countries, hearing from Bush administration officials, experts from previous administrations, outside experts and others. The hearings will help to establish a legislative program as well as funding programs proposed by the administration in the fiscal year 2004 federal budget, he said.

Topping his agenda will be discussions on a post-disarmament Iraq, whether that occurs as a result of military operations or by other means, the Indiana Republican said. It is not a foregone conclusion what will follow in Iraq should some significant changes in the regime take place, Lugar said, but it is likely that planning already has begun at the Departments of State and Defense.

"The point of the hearings, and the reason for announcing that we will be preoccupied with this subject for a while, is to stimulate ... planning on the part of our government at whatever level people wish to pursue that," he said, "and likewise a strong conversation with other governments throughout the world who have ideas about that, including Iraqi exiles.

In addition, he said the committee will be focusing on progress in Afghanistan.

Lugar said the United States needs a more comprehensive plan in Afghanistan that shows a sense of stability for the future, "that will give [Afghan] President Karzai and his government somewhat more room than simply the governance of the capital city."

Lugar also said he expects the Senate to give greater than the required two-thirds majority approval for the Moscow Treaty, which requires Russia and the United States to reduce their deployed nuclear warheads to a range of 1,800-2,200 warheads over a 10-year period from current levels of approximately 6,000 warheads.

Lugar was previously Senate Foreign Relations chairman during the 1985-86 session. In 1991, he and then-Senate Armed Services Chairman Sam Nunn, a Georgia Democrat, created a program to destroy nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in the former Soviet Union. Since that time the Nunn-Lugar threat reduction program has deactivated approximately 6,000 nuclear warheads.

The U.S. Congress reconvenes January 7, but both the Senate and the House of Representatives will be undergoing changes with new committee assignments, new committee chairmen, and selecting leaders for both the Republicans, who will control both chambers, and the Democrats, who will be in the minority.