Nuclear arms treaty heads to Senate and GOP scrutiny
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With the ink barely dry on the latest nuclear treaty between the United States and Russia, the top Democrat in the Senate predicted on Thursday that it will get the needed 67 votes to be ratified.
“Strategic arms control treaties similar to this one have historically passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support, and I am confident that this agreement will receive the 67 votes from both sides of the aisle needed for passage,” Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, said in a prepared statement.
“There is no need to play politics with something as important as this is to our national security,” he said.
Reid’s words come after a bruising partisan battle over healthcare. At least eight Republican votes will be needed for ratification, if Democrats can hold on to the 59 votes in their caucus.
The White House was optimistic, with top officials including spokesman Robert Gibbs reminding reporters that this type of arms limitation treaty between the United States and Russia has usually been approved overwhelmingly by more than 90 senators.
Obama administration officials also point to GOP endorsements in the Senate and from officials in previous Republican administrations as smoothing the way to bipartisan support.
But the treaty will certainly be examined before any vote, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) indicated.
“The Senate will assess whether or not the agreement is verifiable, whether it reduces our nation’s ability to defend itself and our allies from the threat of nuclear armed missiles, and whether or not this administration is committed to preserving our own nuclear triad,’ McConnell said in a statement.
Another of the key issues is whether there is any link between the reduction of nuclear weapons in the treaty and the broader question of missile defense. Republicans have indicated that any such link would be a problem.
“This treaty doesn’t place any constraints on the missile defense that we are developing in Europe, and so we feel very comfortable that on missile defense we can go to the Senate and say there are no constraints on missile defense in this treaty,” Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor, told reporters in Prague, where the treaty was signed on Thursday.
“We recognize the fact that missile defense ... is of great interest to us because we want to be able to preserve the flexibility that we need to protect the American people, and to the Russians because they’re interested in their strategic balance,” he said.
President Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev discussed missile defense in their one-on-one meeting, U.S. officials said, but negotiations are likely to be lengthy.
--Michael Muskal
