Dems getting closer on START (Politico)

Top Democrat predicts Senate will OK arms treaty
WASHINGTON – A top Democrat predicted Monday that the Senate will approve a new Arms Control treaty with Russia, but conceded that it will take "house by house combat" to collect enough votes from recalcitrant Republicans to prevail. The comments by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., came a day after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would oppose the accord, complicating President Barack Obama's prospects for achieving his top Foreign Policy priority. Schumer said Democra...

Dems Prepare Votes on START Treaty
Politico reports: Senate Democrats appear to have enough votes to overcome a Republican Filibuster on the new START arms-control treaty, though it’s unclear if they will have the 67 votes needed for ratification. At least four Republicans have committed to supporting the U.S.-Russia treaty or are leaning that way, including two who say they will vote for Cloture. If Democrats can hold their 58-member Caucus together, that would likely put them at or over the 60-vote threshold required to end...

Dems Pick Up GOP Votes for START
Politico reports: Senate Democrats appear to have enough votes to overcome a Republican Filibuster on the new START arms-control treaty, though it’s unclear if they will have the 67 votes needed for ratification. At least five Republicans have committed to supporting the U.S.-Russia treaty or are leaning that way, including two who say they will vote for Cloture. If Democrats can hold their 58-member Caucus together, that would likely put them at or over the 60-vote threshold required to end...

McConnell to Vote Against Russia Arms Treaty
Nov. 3: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., left, and House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio on Capitol Hill. WASHINGTON -- The Senate's Republican leader said Sunday he would oppose a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, complicating President Barack Obama's drive to secure a Foreign Policy victory in the final days of the postelection Congress. Senior Democrats still expressed confidence the Senate would ratify the accord and pushed for a showdown vote early this week. The White H...

Obama pushes for arms pact as top Democrat is upbeat
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Obama lobbied senators by phone Monday to back an arms treaty with Russia that he's called a National Security imperative, as a top Senate Democrat conceded "house by house combat" would be needed to win enough GOP votes to prevail. The president is continuing to call senators as he presses for passage of the New START before Congress adjourns, according to deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton. The White House and Senate Democratic leaders expressed confidence the...

McConnell: Treaty a Non-Starter
Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won't vote for the START Treaty: The Senate’s Republican leader came out Sunday against a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, warning Democrats not to rush through President Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy priority in the final days of the postelection Congress. Top Democrats still expressed confidence the Senate would ratify the accord by year’s end. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made no prediction about the treaty’s success or ...

William Hartung: On New START, Kyl's Last Stand
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) is feeling grumpy these days. And the closer the New START agreement comes to being ratified by the Senate, the grumpier he is going to get. How can Kyl object to New START? It is a modest treaty that will reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals by about one-third, while simultaneously restoring a system for monitoring each side's nuclear forces to replace the one that lapsed over a year ago. These are worthwhile achievements in their own right, and they more than justify...

Military Gay Ban Repeal Heads To Obama
(NewsCore) - The US Senate voted to Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the policy that bars gays and Lesbians from serving openly in the US Military, in a 65-31 final vote Saturday, paving the way for a Repeal of the 17-year-old policy. The Repeal now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature next week, at which point it will become the law. The bill, which already passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday by a vote of 250-175, passed a 63-33 Cloture vote Saturday. All 55 Democrats, t...

Republicans Block DREAM Act, Another Old Media Lie
The Old Media is up to its old tricks again, this time making the GOP the fall guy for the failure of the latest Immigration Bill. Nearly every news outlet is reporting that the Republicans have blocked the DREAM Act, many of these reports even say so right in the headline. The truth, however, is not that the GOP blocked it, but that the Democrats didn't get all its own members to vote for it. In fact, if the Democrats could have gotten five more of their own members to vote "yea" the bill woul...

New START Treaty: Dems Beat Back GOP Efforts To Alter Accord
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama tried to sway reluctant Republican senators on Monday to back a new Arms Control treaty with Russia as GOP aversion to giving a politically damaged president another victory intruded on his National Security agenda. The White House and senior Democrats expressed confidence that they had the votes for the accord that was signed by Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April. The two countries negotiated the New START pact to cap Nuclear Weapons...

Top Democrat predicts Senate will OK arms treaty
WASHINGTON—A top Democrat predicted Monday that the Senate will approve a new Arms Control treaty with Russia, but conceded that it will take "house by house combat" to collect enough votes from recalcitrant Republicans to prevail. The comments by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., came a day after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would oppose the accord, complicating President Barack Obama's prospects for achieving his top Foreign Policy priority. Schumer said Democrats...

Obama pushes for arms pact as top Dem upbeat
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama lobbied senators by phone Monday to back an arms treaty with Russia that he's called a National Security imperative, as a top Senate Democrat conceded "house by house combat" would be needed to win enough GOP votes to prevail. The president is continuing to call senators as he presses for passage of the New START Treaty before Congress adjourns, according to deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton. The White House and Senate Democratic leaders expressed con...

Senate Democrats Make Final Push on Nuclear Treaty
Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Supporters of a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia said they’re confident of having enough votes to ratify the accord, even as top Republicans said they will try to delay it until next year. The Senate yesterday rejected a Republican-sponsored amendment that Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry said would have scuttled the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Lawmakers resumed debate today on the treaty, one of their last major pieces of business...

Obama pushes for arms pact as top Dem upbeat
(12-20) 10:50 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) -- President Barack Obama lobbied senators by phone Monday to back an arms treaty with Russia that he's called a National Security imperative, as a top Senate Democrat conceded "house by house combat" would be needed to win enough GOP votes to prevail. The president is continuing to call senators as he presses for passage of the New START Treaty before Congress adjourns, according to deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton. The White House and Senate Democratic le...

Senate Dems push ahead on arms control treaty
WASHINGTON — Democrats have moved a step closer toward a crucial Senate vote on a new Arms Control treaty with Russia, beating back Republican efforts to alter the accord and setting up a showdown with the GOP on President Barack Obama’s top Foreign Policy priority. The White House has made ratification of the landmark agreement an imperative in the closing days of the postelection Congress, but its hopes for the pact were complicated Sunday as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell,...

Obama pushes for arms pact as top Dem upbeat
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama lobbied senators by phone Monday to back an arms treaty with Russia that he's called a National Security imperative, as a top Senate Democrat conceded "house by house combat" would be needed to win enough GOP votes to prevail. The president is continuing to call senators as he presses for passage of the New START Treaty before Congress adjourns, according to deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton. The White House and Senate Democratic leaders expressed confid...

GOP Senate leader won't vote for nuclear arms pact with Russia
Sen. Mitch McConnell says he fears that the START Treaty might hamper American Missile Defenses. WASHINGTON — The Senate's Republican leader said Sunday that he would oppose a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, complicating President Barack Obama's drive to secure a Foreign Policy victory in the final days of the post-election Congress. Democrats still expressed confidence the Senate would ratify the accord and pushed for a showdown vote early this week. The White House and Democrats are de...

Richard Klass: Questions about Questions about New START
Listening to GOP Senators raise questions about the New START agreement raises some questions for them. ·Why does Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) complain that the treaty is being rushed when there will be more time on the Senate Floor than spent in total on START I, START II and the Moscow treaty (SORT)? ·Why did Sen. John Kyl (R-Az) say New START was acceptable if modernization was agreed and then reverse course? ·Is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) simply implementing his top pri

Andrew Aylward: Dems near finish line on START treaty
Democrats in the Senate are confident that they will have the votes necessary to ratify the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that President Obama signed with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April. Ratification requires 67 votes and would mark another legislative win for Democrats in what is shaping up to be a not-so-lame Lame Duck session. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV.) has moved for Cloture on Tuesday. A ratification vote is expected on Wednesday. While Republican Sens. John M...

In Wake of DADT Repeal, New START Looking Shaky (The Atlantic Wire)
WASHINGTON, DC – The decisive vote on the much-debated New START Treaty will happen later this week. Is ratification around the corner? Maybe not. Some Republicans are angry at the Repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell," The New York Times' Peter Baker reports, and the debate is "complicated by a deadlock over Government Spending and the political subtext about whether the pact's approval would rejuvenate a weakened president after his party's Midterm Election defeat." Majority Leader Mitch Mc...

Cue Loud Clapping After Obama Gets Played
This is a tale of Pres. Obama’s failed leadership as seen through graphics. It is also the tale of how Pres. Obama decided to do what he did and the part the press plays in helping him neuter Democratic Party priorities. You can add to the graphics people like Chris Matthews and others like Katty Kay, and Joe Klein of TIME, all applauding Pres. Obama for being outmaneuvered by Republicans on the Tax Cut scheme just passed, though they don’t realize or care that’s what happe...

Scott Brown to support New START treaty
Your article has been sent. WASHINGTON -- Senator Scott Brown, the Massachusetts Republican, announced that he will support the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia, providing a potentially crucial vote when the measure comes up for a vote as soon as Tuesday. "I've done my due diligence, and I’m going to be ... ultimately supporting the START Treaty," Brown told reporters after emerging late this afternoon from a closed-door intelligence briefing for all senators. "I believe it's some...

The final legislative drama -- New START
After passage of the tax-cut deal, as well as the Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," ratification of the New START arms-reduction treaty with Russia represents the final legislative drama during this lame-duck session of Congress. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a vote to end debate on treaty for Tuesday. That needs 60 votes to pass, which appears to be a given. The uncertainty, however, is over ratification, which will need 67 votes -- so at least nine GOP votes -- and that acti...

New START Treaty: The Obama Administration is dancing to Moscows tune
When Hillary Clinton famously announced Washington’s new “reset” policy towards Russia, she really meant to say “kowtow”. Because whenever Moscow makes a demand the Obama Administration obediently follows. The Russians hated the Bush Administration’s plans for Third Site missile defences in Poland and the Czech Republic, and the Obama team dutifully dropped them last year in what can only be described as an appalling surrender to a major strategic adversary. Now with th

Hot off the press: Obsolete bill costs $78,000 to print
Sometimes in Congress, the physical size of the bill matters. Last week's aborted $1.1 Trillion "omnibus" spending bill ran to 1,926 pages and ended up costing Taxpayers more than $78,000 just for the Government Printing Office to print out 650 copies. The size alone helped Republicans sink the measure so quickly that Democrats officially never called up the bill on the Senate floor for action, even though Congress is racing a Tuesday deadline for preventing a government shutdown. Fighting back,...