GOP leader rejects quick treaty vote

WASHINGTON – The Republican point man on nuclear arms issues said Tuesday he would not support a quick Senate vote on the New START treaty with Russia, dealing a major blow to the Obama administration’s hopes for the weapons agreement and potentially its improved relations with Moscow.

Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona said that, despite aggressive administration lobbying to win GOP support for a quick vote, there is too little time in the Senate lame-duck session to weigh the complicated issues covered in the treaty. The treaty text was released to the Senate at the end of April, a few weeks after it was signed in Prague, Czech Republic, by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.

But Kyl said he told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that he did not think the treaty could be brought to a vote “given the combination of other work Congress must do and the complex and unresolved issues related to START and modernization” of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex.

A number of other Republicans, starting with Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have said they will follow Kyl’s lead. Kyl’s decision is final, an aide said.

Democratic leaders were surprised and angered by Kyl’s announcement. But they said they would continue pushing the Republicans to agree to a vote.

“Given New START’s bipartisan support and enormous importance to our national security, the time to act is now, and we will continue to seek its approval by the Senate before the end of the year,” Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement.

Administration officials fear that if the treaty vote slips until next year, when the Republicans have six more seats in the Senate, the odds of ratification will diminish. At that point, to secure the necessary 67 votes – treaties require approval by two-thirds of the Senate – the administration will need every Democrat and 14 Republicans.