Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “pleaded with senators on Wednesday to back a new arms control treaty with Russia, saying a delay in ratification could hurt U.S. security and create dangerous uncertainty over broader nuclear control efforts,” Reuters reports.
Clinton said she was confident that reluctant Republicans would eventually swing behind the new START treaty when they vote in mid-September, saying the nuclear pact was too important to fall victim to U.S. election-year politics.
"Once the new START treaty is ratified and enters into force, it will advance our national security and provide stability and predictability between the world’s two leading nuclear powers," Clinton said in a statement.
The new START treaty — one of the central planks of the Obama administration’s nuclear policy — has run into choppy waters in the Senate, where only one Republican has come out in favor of ratification.
The treaty “requires 67 votes to clear the Senate, meaning at least eight Republican votes will be needed for it to become law.”
Senator Jon Kyl, the number two Republican in the Senate, said he would seek at up to $10 billion more to modernize the U.S. nuclear force — a demand which could be difficult to meet by the end of the year.
Clinton said that despite this, the administration had indications that the treaty would ultimately win "much more bipartisan support" as senators ponder the alternatives.
(credit image – daylife/getty)
Congress in Your Pocket
