Senate to debate nuke pact
Some in GOP want to vote next year
WASHINGTON – The Senate is expected to debate a proposed nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia as soon as today, despite continuing Republican objections that there is too little time this year to properly evaluate the controversial measure.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday ordered debate to begin as soon as the Senate finishes the proposed tax-cut package and predicted that advocates have the 67 votes needed for ratification.
But Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who has fought to delay consideration of the treaty until next year, when Republicans will have more Senate seats, contended that Reid “perhaps predicted something prematurely.”
Ratifying the measure would be arguably Obama’s most tangible foreign policy accomplishment, and would strengthen relations with Russia.
In recent weeks, amid an energetic promotional campaign from the White House, a handful of Senate Republicans appear more willing for a quick vote. But some Republican senators’ views remain murky, and opponents might be able to turn to Senate rules to delay a vote.
“This is still a jump ball,” said John D. Isaacs, president of the Council for a Livable World, an arms-control advocacy group.
Next year, with six more Republicans in the Senate, it will presumably be tougher to ratify the treaty, which requires a two-thirds vote.
Reid intends to consider both the New START treaty and a stopgap funding measure this week, a process called dual tracking that could complicate deliberations, some observers said. In addition, proposed amendments could slow the process and change some senators’ willingness to support the treaty.
Stephen Rademaker, a nonproliferation official in the George W. Bush administration and a former Senate aide, said he believes the vote count is “probably close – it could depend on what happens with amendments.”
The treaty would reduce the ceiling on each nation’s long-range active warheads by up to 30 percent and provide procedures for each country to monitor the other’s nuclear arsenal. It has wide support from senior military officials and former secretaries of State and Defense of both parties.