Remarks on Arms Control and an Informal Exchange With Reporters in Denver, Colorado

Q. It must be good news. It must be good news.

The President. Yes. I have just a very brief statement. I'm pleased to report that en route to Denver, here, I received a call from Geneva. And it appears that all of the remaining issues on reaching an INF agreement have been resolved, including a reliable and credible verification package. This treaty will be finalized when General Secretary Gorbachev and I meet in Washington next month.

Q. Can you sell it to the Senate?

The President. What?

Q. Can you sell it to the Senate? Can you sell it to the Senate—the treaty?

The President. I'll bet we can. Yes.

Q. — now on START agreement?

The President. What?

Q. Have you made progress now on the START agreement?

The President. Well, this is one of the things we'll be talking about here in this meeting. I know that you can't conclude it here, but we'll be getting into that process.

Q. Mr. President—

Q. —uneasy—

The President. What?

Q. Are you at all nervous about letting the Soviets onto a U.S. or Western facility, an allied facility?

The President. No, I think that all of that will be worked out. We'll be as careful as they are.

Q. Are you willing to delay SDI? Are you willing to delay SDI deployment by staying within the treaty for a longer period of time if that will make a deal?

The President. I'm not going to discuss that right now about SDI, but, as I've said before, I'll just answer it with this: SDI is not a bargaining chip.

Q. Sir, a lot of Senators, including Senator Wallop, are worried that this treaty will make us less safe.

The President. Well, I'm going to try to convince them it won't.