US senators clash on arms treaty as pressure grows

US Senate rejects bid to end Russia treaty
The US Senate on Saturday beat back an attempt by President Barack Obama's Republican foes to kill a nuclear Arms Control pact with Russia over charges it may cripple US missile defence plans. Lawmakers voted 37-59 to reject an amendment by Republican Senator John McCain to strip out language in the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty's (START) preamble tying offensive Nuclear Weapons to defensive systems. The preamble is non-binding but, because it resulted from talks between Washington and Mos...

Obama reassures lawmakers on missile defenses
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama reassured lawmakers on Saturday that he was committed to building U.S. Missile Defenses despite wording in a new strategic Nuclear Treaty with Russia that Republicans fear could limit U.S. options. Republicans debating the New START Treaty in the Senate have expressed concern the pact would limit U.S. efforts to develop systems like those it plans to deploy in Europe to defend against limited missile attacks from Iran or North Korea. "The New START T...

Obama reassures lawmakers on missile defenses
By David Alexander WASHINGTON | Sat Dec 18, 2010 8:36pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama reassured lawmakers on Saturday that he was committed to building U.S. Missile Defenses despite wording in a new strategic Nuclear Treaty with Russia that Republicans fear could limit U.S. options. Republicans debating the New START Treaty in the Senate have expressed concern the pact would limit U.S. efforts to develop systems like those it plans to deploy in Europe to defend against lim...

Obama reassures lawmakers on missile defenses
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama reassured lawmakers on Saturday that he was committed to building U.S. Missile Defenses despite wording in a new strategic Nuclear Treaty with Russia that Republicans fear could limit U.S. options. Republicans debating the New START Treaty in the Senate have expressed concern the pact would limit U.S. efforts to develop systems like those it plans to deploy in Europe to defend against limited missile attacks from Iran or North Korea. "The New START ...

GOP bid to change nuclear treaty fails
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats deflected an initiative by Republicans yesterday that would have forced US and Russian negotiators to reopen an arms treaty reducing stockpiles of nuclear warheads. But the 37-59 vote against an amendment by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, exposed doubts about whether President Obama can win Senate ratification of the treaty before a new, more Republican Congress assumes power in January. Treaties require a two-thirds majority of those voting in t...

Senate Rejects First Serious Challenge to START Treaty.
Not good. (NY Times) — The Senate on Saturday beat back the most serious Republican effort to block approval of a new Arms Control treaty with Russia this year, after President Obama reassured lawmakers that it would not constrain American plans to build a Missile Defense system in Europe. By a margin of 59 to 37 , lawmakers rejected an amendment to strip out language from the treaty preamble that, despite the president’s denial, critics had argued could inhibit missile defense. The Wh...

Senate defeats McCain's New START amendment
Source: CNN Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Senate on Saturday voted down an amendment Saturday would have taken out language that recognizes a relationship between offensive and defensive weapons from the preamble of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the proposed nuclear arms treaty with Russia. The vote was 59-37 against the amendment, put forward by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. He had argued the language would constrain American plans for Missile Defense. The vote against the amendment he...

Senators clash on arms treaty as pressure grows
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lawmakers debating the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia clashed on Friday over whether the pact would improve or hurt U.S. National Security as pressure mounted for a vote next week before the U.S. Senate breaks for Christmas. The treaty, one of President Barack Obama's top priorities for the current legislative session, would commit Russia and the United States to cut deployed strategic Nuclear Weapons to 1,550 for each side within seven years. Althou...

US Senate rejects bid to end Russia treaty
The US Senate on Saturday beat back an attempt by President Barack Obama's Republican foes to kill a nuclear Arms Control pact with Russia over charges it may cripple US missile defence plans. Lawmakers voted 37-59 to reject an amendment by Republican Senator John McCain to strip out language in the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty's (START) preamble tying offensive Nuclear Weapons to defensive systems. The preamble is non-binding but, because it resulted from talks between Washington and Mos...

START clears hurdle in Senate
The Obama Administration on Saturday overcame a big hurdle toward the prospects for New START ratification — though the path to passage of the U.S.-Russia Arms Control pact is still unclear. The Senate voted 59-37 against an amendment sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) that would have struck Missile Defense language from the treaty’s preamble. Supporters of the U.S.-Russia Arms Control pact said the defeated amendment would have effectively killed ...

Can-Do Attitude Grips "Git R Done" Congress
“It’s A Wonderful Life”? Not sure if it’s that classic flick, or maybe it's a whole bunch of movies that have featured a line that goes something like this: “Wouldn’t it be great if folks acted like it was Christmas all year round?” Or, in the case of the United States Congress, the extra work and Productivity, the spirit of cooperation - well, relatively and/or comparatively speaking, that is. Facing what GOP leaders have pointed to as the downright ung...

Sarah Palin & John Bolton urge 'No' to New START: It's America vs Russia
"Just because we were out-negotiated by the Russians, that doesn’t mean we have to say yes," to New START,  says Sarah Palin,  with a well-aimed   slam at President Obama for  bowing to the will of Russia. Palin continued,  pointing out common-sense American   security first reasons which are   patriotically in lock-step  with John Bolton's grave misgivings about how   Obama's nuclear arms reduction treaty, currently being considered f...

President Obama: Russian arms treaty no defense threat
WASHINGTON — Pushing hard for a victory on a top National Security imperative, President Barack Obama sought to assure Republican lawmakers Saturday that a new Arms Control treaty with Russia would not hamper U.S. Missile Defense. In a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Obama said that as long as he is president, the U.S., "will continue to develop and deploy effective missile defenses to protect the United States, our deployed forces, and our allies and partners." O...

Senate defeats McCain's New START amendment
Source: CNN Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Senate on Saturday voted down an amendment Saturday would have taken out language that recognizes a relationship between offensive and defensive weapons from the preamble of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the proposed nuclear arms treaty with Russia. The vote was 59-37 against the amendment, put forward by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. He had argued the language would constrain American plans for Missile Defense. The vote against the amendment he...

Senate votes down McCain amendment to the START treaty
Washington (CNN) -- Senate Democrats defeated a Republican amendment Saturday that would have taken out language that recognizes a relationship between offensive and defensive weapons from the preamble of the New START Treaty, the proposed nuclear arms treaty with Russia. The vote was 59-37 against the amendment, which was put forward by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. He had argued the language would constrain American plans for Missile Defense. The vote against the amendment helps to clear the wa...

Obama: New START treaty would not hinder missile defense
President Obama sought to bolster the case for the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia Saturday by sending a letter to Senate leaders aimed at easing fears that the pact will hinder the U.S Missile Defense programs. “The New START Treaty places no limitations on the development or Deployment of our Missile Defense programs,” Obama writes in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The letter comes ahead of a Senate vote Satur...

US Senate rejects bid to kill Russia nuclear treaty
Graphic on the global stockpile of Nuclear Weapons. The US Senate on Saturd... The US Senate beat back an attempt by President Barack Obama's Republican foes to kill a nuclear arms control pact with Russia over charges it may cripple US Missile Defense plans. Lawmakers voted 37-59 to reject an amendment by Republican Senator John McCain to strip out language in the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty's (START) preamble tying offensive nuclear weapons to defensive systems. The preamble is non-b...

START clears one more hurdle
START cleared another hurdle Saturday as the Senate voted down an amendment that would have required re-negotiation of the U.S.-Russian Arms Control treaty, and Obama moved to reassure Republican Senators that the treaty does not limit U.S. Missile Defenses, I report: The Senate voted 59-37 against an amendment sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) that would have struck missile defense language from the treaty&rsq...;

Senators clash on arms treaty as pressure grows
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers debating the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia clashed on Friday over whether the pact would improve or hurt U.S. National Security, as pressure mounted for a vote next week before the Senate breaks for Christmas. The treaty, one of President Barack Obama's top priorities for the current legislative session, would commit Russia and the United States to cut deployed strategic Nuclear Weapons to 1,550 for each side within seven years. The agreement, signed...

Senators clash on arms treaty as pressure grows
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers debating the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia clashed on Friday over whether the pact would improve or hurt U.S. National Security, as pressure mounted for a vote next week before the Senate breaks for Christmas. The treaty, one of President Barack Obama's top priorities for the current legislative session, would commit Russia and the United States to cut deployed strategic Nuclear Weapons to 1,550 for each side within seven years. The agreement, signed ...

Obama invokes Reagan to push START treaty
By Caren Bohan WASHINGTON | Sat Dec 18, 2010 6:01am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fresh from a shared victory on an $858 billion tax-cut package, President Barack Obama pushed on Saturday for congressional approval of the new START nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Obama invoked the late Republican President Ronald Reagan as he used his weekly radio address to urge Bipartisan support for the treaty. Obama said it was crucial to put a new treaty into place so inspections of Russia's nuclear facili...

New Start Matters
At the end of 2009, the START Treaty between the United States and Russia expired. For the first time in decades there are no mutual inspections and monitoring between the United States and Russia in the nuclear field. For more than a year, the two largest stockpiles of Nuclear Weapons have been without the finely calibrated system of trust and verification which the original START Treaty from 1991 ensured. On April 8, the United States and Russia signed the New Start treaty, which represents a...

The Confusion of Anti-START Hawks
Sarah Palin has written a polemic against New START. Greg Scoblete has observed that her stated concern for allied security ignores the overwhelming support for ratification from the governments most directly threatened by Russian tactical Nuclear Weapons. That’s true enough, but what needs to be emphasized here is that Palin’s objections are even more misguided than that. Someone might ask: why bother addressing Palin’s objections? They should be addressed because they are d...

McCain's START Amendment Falls
The Arizona Republican’s missile-defense amendment to the New START Treaty fell this afternoon. 59 senators voted to block it and 37 senators supported it. McCain tells National Review Online that he remains “very concerned” about the treaty. Still, he notes that he has “not made up my mind” with regard to his final vote on the measure. The amendment sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would have separated the issue of defensive missile interceptors from efforts...

GOP Fails To Change U.S.-Russia Treaty
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats have deflected an attempt by Republicans to require U.S. and Russian negotiators to reopen a nuclear arms treaty being debated in the Senate. But the 37-59 vote against the measure by Arizona Sen. John McCain exposes doubts about whether the Senate can ratify the treaty as written before a new, more Republican Congress assumes power in January. Treaties require a two-thirds majority of those voting in the Senate, or 67 votes if all 100 senators vote. Thirty-seven sena...