Republican Senator Jon Kyl sudden objection to holding a vote on the US-Russia nuclear weapons treaty is an affront to American national security. The Senate has had this treaty in hands since June and gave all indications of their willingness to support it. Objecting now shows that Republicans are willing to forego a treaty that reduces nuclear weapons simply to embarrass President Barack Obama on the international stage.
Senator Kyl claim that the treaty would limit U.S. missile defense options illustrates a lack of understanding by Republicans of basic science. While it is worthwhile to study missile defense, the reality is there can be no real missile defense against a counterpart like the Russians. The numbers are simply too overwhelming. Inasmuch as we would like to believe the technology exists to create a shield around the United States, it is both costs wise and practically impossible. For Senator Kyl to object on missile defense after President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative fiscal black hole speaks volume of Republicans who claim they want to cut spending and wasteful programs. The reality is ratification of this treaty will actually allow reductions over time in the defense budget as a template will exist that both the United States and Russia must contractually follow.
Just as Republicans have shown a disdain for policies to support the middleclass, they are showing a disdain for national security. It is evident that since supporting the nuclear weapons treaty would be equated as a foreign policy success for the President they must object. A party that attempts to put party over country, a party that puts party over citizen’s well-being, and a party that puts party above humanity is a party in decline.
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Democrats Pushing For Nuclear Treaty Vote Despite Setback By GOP
JIM ABRAMS | 11/17/10 10:26 AM
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday beseeched the Senate to vote this year on a U.S.-Russia nuclear weapons treaty, saying delay was a threat to the nation’ security.
Clinton held a breakfast meeting with lawmakers from both parties a day after a key Senate Republican, Jon Kyl of Arizona, stunned the administration by coming out against a vote on the treaty during the current lame duck session.
"This is not an issue that can afford to be postponed," Clinton said after the meeting.
She pledged to work with Senate supporters of the pact to overcome resistance. "We will do whatever it takes literally around the clock," Clinton said.
The secretary was flanked by Sens. John Kerry and Dick Lugar, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the main advocates for the treaty. The pact would reduce limits on U.S. and Russian strategic warheads and revive on-the-ground inspections that ceased when a previous treaty expired nearly a year ago.
"I refuse to believe that the door shouldn’t remain open" to a vote during the lame duck, said Kerry, D-Mass. "The national security of our country deserves nothing less."
Kerry said there were no substantive disagreements on the treaty itself and that a major objection of Kyl’s should have been removed when the administration pledged an additional $4.1 billion for weapons modernization programs.
The country "is unlikely to have either the treaty or the modernization unless we get real," said Lugar, R-Ind.
All three stressed national security: Those in favor of postponing or avoiding a vote "vastly underestimate the continuing threat that is posed to this country," Clinton said.
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Kyl, the second-ranked Senate Republican, issued a terse statement Tuesday saying a vote should be put off until next year. That dealt a major blow to President Barack Obama’s efforts to improve ties with Russia and to his broader strategy for reducing nuclear arms worldwide. The treaty, known as New START, had been seen as one of the president’s top foreign policy accomplishments.
Without the support of Kyl, the leading Republican voice on the treaty, Democrats have little hope of securing at least eight Republican votes – the minimum they would need for ratification in the current Senate.
On the sidelines of the summit of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) last weekend, Obama told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he believed the treaty could be cleared by the Senate before it leaves for the year, calling it a "top priority" of his administration.
In Moscow Wednesday, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said officials there still expect the Senate to find time for ratifying the treaty this fall.
"We have taken note of Senator Kyl’s comment. It’s not our business to interfere in the procedure of agenda agreement and the Senate’s work," Ryabkov said.
Democrats Pushing For Nuclear Treaty Vote Despite Setback By GOP
