With only weeks to go before the midterm congressional elections, partisans on both sides of the aisle are focusing on a repulsive congressional sex scandal. The now infamous Foley affair is on the front pages of every newspaper and internet site and remains the talk of the 24-hour cable news cycle. If you believe most professional pundits, the Foley scandal has now sealed the GOP’s fate this fall and will lead to Democratic control of at least one (if not both) chambers of Congress.

If that happens, many serious issues that deserve attention are likely to be ignored. One such issue is missile defense.

North Korea again made news this week when it announced its intention to conduct a nuclear weapons test. That provocative action again reminds us of the importance of developing a comprehensive national missile defense program, one that’s capable of neutralizing any potential future North Korean missile attack on U.S. soil. But to ensure that our missile defenses are reliable, lawmakers have to fund the program.

If Democrats regain control of Congress, that is unlikely to happen.

Simply thumbing through the pages of the Congressional Record can tell us all we need to know about how important Democrats think missile defense is. Consider the following history of Democratic amendment strategies on each sequential Defense Authorization Act in the U.S. Senate:

• In the 98th Congress 83 percent of Congressional Democrats supported a motion to significantly weaken the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).

• During the next congress (99th) Senate Democrats offered another SDI-killing amendment which would have stripped funding from the program. Again, 83 percent of their colleagues concurred.

• The 100th Congress saw a different strategy. Democrats offered an amendment to transfer $700 million from SDI to NASA for space shuttle costs.

• In the 101st Congress Senate Democrats went after SDI with an amendment that would strip it of $594 million in funding.

• Democrats grew emboldened in the 102nd Congress, offering an amendment to strip SDI by $1 billion.

• SDI was renamed in the 103rd Congress. Democrats offered an amendment to strip the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization of $400 million in funding. Continued...