From a 2003 speech by the would-be Speaker of the House (HT: RCP's blog):

"Yet by shredding the ABM Treaty and flirting with the unthinkable – 'usable' battlefield nuclear weapons – the Bush Administration turns the clock back on three decades of arms control.

"The United States must not create new nuclear weapons and ignite new arms races. As the only nation ever to use nuclear weapons, we have a moral obligation to be a leader in ridding this scourge from the face of the Earth forever.

"The United States does not need a multi-billion-dollar national missile defense against the possibility of a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile.

"What we need is a strong nonproliferation policy with other nations to combat the most serious threat to our national security and to the safety of the world – weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists who would smuggle them into our cities.

"In order to succeed, we must be consistent. We must stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction at its source, as well as dealing with its end users.

It is not only a fair assumption, but a certain one, that a Democratic majority in the House or Senate will work from the first day of its seating to delay the deployment of the missile defense shield.