GOP bid to alter START defeated

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats deflected an initiative by Republicans on Saturday that would have forced U.S. and Russian negotiators to reopen an arms treaty reducing stockpiles of nuclear warheads.

But the 59-37 vote against an amendment by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., indicated the difficulty President Barack Obama is having in trying to 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 the Senate, or 67 votes if all 100 senators vote.

Led by McCain, Obama’s GOP opponent in the 2008 presidential election, Republicans tried to strike words from the treaty’s preamble that they say would allow Russia to withdraw from the pact if the U.S. develops a missile defense system in Europe.

The treaty is a foreign policy priority for Obama, who signed it in April with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to call for ratification.

He also tried to allay GOP doubts with a letter Saturday to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pledging to carry through with planned U.S. missile defense facilities in Romania and Poland that would be capable of intercepting a missile from Iran aimed at the U.S.

As long as he is president, Obama said, 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.”

The treaty has received the backing of current and former military and national security officials, as well as former Republican President George H.W. Bush.

“Ratifying a treaty like START isn’t about winning a victory for an administration or a political party,” the president said. “It’s about the safety and security of the United States of America.”