Fear vs. Reason in the Arms Control Debate

Passage imminent for New START
WASHINGTON — A new arms-reduction treaty between the United States and Russia seemed headed for certain ratification after Republican opposition crumbled Tuesday beneath a torrid campaign of White House pressure and persuasion. Eleven Republican senators joined Democrats on Tuesday in cutting off debate over the treaty, and more could join when the Senate votes to ratify the treaty today, a snowballing effect that would hand the White House a rare major foreign-policy victory. Republican s...

Passage imminent for New START
WASHINGTON — A new arms-reduction treaty between the United States and Russia seemed headed for certain ratification after Republican opposition crumbled Tuesday beneath a torrid campaign of White House pressure and persuasion. Eleven Republican senators joined Democrats on Tuesday in cutting off debate over the treaty, and more could join when the Senate votes to ratify the treaty today, a snowballing effect that would hand the White House a rare major foreign-policy victory. Republican s...

US poised to approve nuclear arms pact with Russia (AP)
WASHINGTON – The Senate is poised to approve a nuclear arms pact with Russia, handing President Barack Obama a huge victory on his top Foreign Policy priority. Passage of the New START Treaty appeared assured after 11 Republicans joined Democrats in a vote Tuesday to end debate on the pact. That signaled that Obama should have the two-thirds majority he needs when the Senate votes on final approval Wednesday. The approval would mark a big comeback for Obama's arm controls efforts after t...

In letter to Senate, Obama promises that New START treaty won't limit missile defense
President Obama issued a letter to the Senate on Sunday pledging to fully develop a U.S. Missile Defense system in Europe, as part of a final offensive to relieve concerns about the nuclear arms pact with Russia as it moves toward a final vote. The letter reiterated administration policy but was an especially extensive and detailed statement on Missile Defense by the president. Parts of it were read aloud by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) shortly before a vote on an amendment that could have ki...

Senate poised to pass nuclear treaty, giving Obama a major victory
Reporting from Washington — A new arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia seemed headed for certain Senate ratification after Republican opposition crumbled Tuesday beneath a torrid campaign of White House pressure. Eleven Republican senators joined Democrats in cutting off debate over the treaty, and more could join when the Senate votes on the treaty Wednesday, giving the White House a major Foreign Policy victory. The Republican support for the agreement, known as ...

Senate poised to pass nuclear treaty, giving Obama a major victory
Reporting from Washington — A new arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia seemed headed for certain Senate ratification after Republican opposition crumbled Tuesday beneath a torrid campaign of White House pressure. Eleven Republican senators joined Democrats in cutting off debate over the treaty, and more could join when the Senate votes on the treaty Wednesday, giving the White House a major Foreign Policy victory. The Republican support for the agreement, known as ...

After Treaty, Obama Nuclear Agenda Only Gets Harder
WASHINGTON — The new Arms Control treaty with Russia, whose ratification now seems assured, was initially envisioned as a speed bump on President Obama’s nuclear agenda, a modest reduction in nuclear forces that would enable him to tackle much harder issues on the way to his dream of eventually eliminating Nuclear Weapons altogether. The latest on President Obama, the new Congress and other news from Washington and around the nation. Join the discussion. It turned out to be a mounta...

US poised to approve nuclear arms pact with Russia
WASHINGTON — The Senate is poised to approve a nuclear arms pact with Russia, handing President Barack Obama a huge victory on his top Foreign Policy priority. Passage of the New START Treaty appeared assured after 11 Republicans joined Democrats in a vote Tuesday to end debate on the pact. That signaled that Obama should have the two-thirds majority he needs when the Senate votes on final approval Wednesday. The approval would mark a big comeback for Obama's arm controls efforts after t...

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, R-Ky.,...

First member of Senate GOP leadership announces support for arms treaty
Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) will vote to ratify the nuclear arms treaty with Russia, making him the first member of the GOP leadership to pledge support for the Obama Administration priority. “I will vote to ratify the New START Treaty between the United States and Russia because it leaves our country with enough nuclear warheads to blow any attacker to kingdom come, and because the president has committed to an $85 billion 10-year plan to make sure that th...

Passage imminent for New START
WASHINGTON — A new arms-reduction treaty between the United States and Russia seemed headed for certain ratification after Republican opposition crumbled Tuesday beneath a torrid campaign of White House pressure and persuasion. Eleven Republican senators joined Democrats on Tuesday in cutting off debate over the treaty, and more could join when the Senate votes to ratify the treaty today, a snowballing effect that would hand the White House a rare major foreign-policy victory. Republican s...

After New START, Arms Control Gets More Difficult
The next nuclear arms treaty will be even harder. After months of debate and delay, the Obama Administration appears to have secured the Senate votes necessary to ratify the New START arms reduction agreement with Russia. But any further talks between the two countries will take up issues that are more complicated and difficult to resolve than those addressed by New START, including tactical Nuclear Weapons and direct limits on U.S. Missile Defense ambitions. More than 70 senators are expected ...

Liberal Columnist Cynthia Tucker: Republican Opposition to Obama is Unpatriotic
There is simply no modern precedent for the behavior of Republicans in the U.S. Senate. They are not only hyper-partisan, but they are also petty, petulant and Unpatriotic, willing to jeopardize National Security if they think they can hurt President Obama. Witness their growing resistance to a nuclear pact with Russia, the New START Treaty. The pact represents minimilist, mainstream downsizing of the Nuclear Weapons arsenals of the United States and Russia, a continuation of policies first envi...

What New START Means for Politics and National Security (The Atlantic Wire)
WASHINGTON, DC – The New START nuclear Arms Control treaty with Russia passed a procedural Senate vote by 67 to 28 on Tuesday, enough "yes" votes for it to pass the ratification vote expected today. Since Mitt Romney denounced the treaty this summer, a number of Republicans have attempted to block its ratification, despite a Bipartisan near-consensus among punditry for the treaty and the support of every living Secretary of State, including Henry Kissinger. Now that it appears likely to ...

Space-Race Victor Finally Wins Epic Battle With Self On Inoffensive Treaty
The New START Treaty is finally going to be ratified by the Senate today, only eight months after President Obama sat down with Russia to sign the thing in front of news cameras. This seemed like a done deal. Who in their governments would really oppose the two countries drawing down their ridiculous stockpiles of aging Nuclear Weapons and helping avoid accidental extinction of the species? Well, Republicans who refuse to vote for anything Democrats want, that’s who. This is a huge defeat ...

Elements of New START US-Russia nuclear pact
Chief elements of the U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty called New START: NEW LIMITS ON STRATEGIC Nuclear Weapons: Each side would have to limit their arsenal of warheads ready to launch to 1550. That's down nearly 30 per cent from the limits imposed in the last U.S-Russia nuclear pact, the 2002 Moscow treaty. NEW LIMITS ON MISSILE DELIVERY SYSTEMS: The treaty also limits missiles, bombers and launchers capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Each side will be allowed up to 800 Submarine launched b...

Lake: Senate Prepares to Ratify START Treaty
Eli Lake reports: The Senate voted Tuesday to limit debate on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), paving the way for final ratification of the arms-control pact as key Republicans defied their party leadership and announced support for the accord. The move to invoke Cloture passed by a 67-28 vote after several days of debate and unsuccessful Republican attempts to add amendments to the U.S.-Russia arms agreement. The Senate could take a final vote to formally ratify the treaty as ...

Right Turn: After START, when do we stop the one-sided deals?
A Capitol Hill guru on START observes that the letter from Adm. Mike Mullen urging ratification of START was inadvertently revealing. Mullen's letter contained this: "During that process, the Russian Federation publicly declared on several occasions that there should be a ban on placement of conventional warheads on strategic delivery systems. In the end, we agreed that any reentry vehicle (nuclear or non-nuclear-armed) contained on an existing type of ICBM or SLBM would be counted under...

New START Heads for Ratification Vote
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), a nuclear reduction agreement with Russia, is reportedly headed for almost certain final approval (NYT) today. Eleven Republican senators and all Democratic senators appeared to support the treaty. Senate approval would clear the way for future talks with Russia and further arms reductions. President Obama pledged to focus future talks (WSJ) on curbing thousands of smaller, tactical Nuclear Weapons, conventional forces and the countries' remainin...

Long START Battle's End Phase
Ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), a nuclear reduction agreement with Russia, seems to be within reach ahead of today's congressional vote (NYT). Nine Republican senators said they would vote for the treaty or are leaning toward (The Hill) doing so, making it likely the Senate will reach the sixty-seven votes needed for ratification. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appealed to the Senate (WashPost) to ratify the treaty. "I continue to belie...

Senate set to give Obama a victory on arms control
WASHINGTON -- An Arms Control treaty paring back U.S. and Russian Nuclear Arsenals won a decisive vote in the Senate on Tuesday, clearing it for final approval and handing President Barack Obama an important Foreign Policy victory. The Senate voted 67-28 to end debate on the treaty, known as New START, mustering the two-thirds majority needed for ratification despite a concerted effort by Republican leaders to sink the agreement. Eleven Republican senators joined every Democrat present to suppo...

86 Billion Reasons to Ratify START
By RightKlik Now that Senate Republicans are caving in for Obama's dangerous START Treaty, the issue has finally begin grabbing the attention it deserves. Like many other Conservatives, Nice Deb is incensed and perplexed by recent developments: ...for some inexplicable reason, [Republicans] are allowing the Obama Administration to rush them into a yes vote on something that should take weeks to debate... The 11 Republicans who voted for Cloture: Sens. Dick Lugar (Ind.), Bob Bennett (Utah), Sco...

US poised to ratify nuclear treaty with Russia
Stumble This! WASHINGTON — A landmark treaty on nuclear arms that will bind the United States and Russia is set for ratification Wednesday after an arduous Senate battle, handing President Barack Obama a major diplomatic triumph. "We are on the brink of writing the next chapter in the 40-year history of wrestling with the threat of Nuclear Weapons," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair John Kerry after lawmakers Tuesday moved 67-28 to end debate on the new Strategic Arms Reductio...

US Senate set to ratify Russia nuclear treaty
A landmark treaty on nuclear arms that will bind the United States and Russia is set for ratification Wednesday after an arduous Senate battle, handing President Barack Obama a major diplomatic triumph. "We are on the brink of writing the next chapter in the 40-year history of wrestling with the threat of Nuclear Weapons," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair John Kerry after lawmakers Tuesday moved 67-28 to end debate on the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), paving a way to ...

US Senate set to ratify Russia nuclear treaty
A landmark nuclear Arms Control treaty binding the United States and Russia sailed over a last US Senate procedural hurdle Tuesday, setting the stage for ratification a day later. Lawmakers voted 67-28 to end debate on the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), rallying the margin necessary to hand President Barack Obama a major diplomatic triumph in a final ballot expected Wednesday. "We are on the brink of writing the next chapter in the 40-year history of wrestling with the threat of nu...