Bipartisanship has been in short supply in America these days, to put it mildly. Over the past year, health care reform, financial regulatory reform, and energy legislation have all met fierce resistance on Capitol Hill, where the mood has too often been one of distrust, reflexive opposition, and frustration. Fortunately, this spring the Senate was handed an opportunity to demonstrate its ability to work together on at least one issue of critical importance -- arms control -- in the form of New START, the United States' latest nuclear reductions treaty with Russia. And in an important first step Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee demonstrated that bipartisanship is not dead yet.
Traditionally, such treaties have garnered overwhelming Senate support, even in uncertain and polarized times. On Thursday the committee, by a bipartisan vote of 14 to 4, approved a resolution of ratification providing our advice and consent to New START. Three of those 14 votes came from Republicans.
The question now is whether we can seize this moment and push ahead with finalizing a treaty that reaffirms American leadership on nuclear issues -- or whether the ideological obstructionism and political rancor that has plagued so many other issues surfaces in connection with one of our most pressing national security challenges.
New START, which U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed in April, limits the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads apiece. It also places caps on missiles and bombers, as well as launchers like missile silos. Under the existing Moscow Treaty, negotiated by George W. Bush, each country is permitted to deploy between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads, so some see this new treaty's reductions as modest. And it is true: This is no disarmament pact. But when you're talking about nuclear weapons, even modest agreements can be significant.
New START continues 40 years of nuclear diplomacy, which was first aimed at ending the arms race -- and then at reversing it. By eliminating redundant weapons, the agreement continues the cuts that Ronald Reagan initiated when he signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987 and began negotiations on the original START Treaty. Even if America's relationship with Russia is now strong enough that neither side fears an attack from the other, it still makes sense for the nuclear superpowers -- our two countries possess some 90 percent of the world's atomic weaponry -- to establish clear limits on their arsenals. The predictability that stems from having such limits, along with the transparency provided by the monitoring and verification provisions contained in New START, produces stability that will make any future crisis less dangerous.
Of course, because it reinforces U.S.-Russian relations, the treaty makes it less likely that any crisis will arise in the first place. Those improved ties will have other benefits as well. Already, in the past five months Russia has begun allowing our forces to transit its territory on their way to Afghanistan, it has suspended a deal to sell Tehran advanced anti-aircraft missiles, and it has supported a U.N. resolution further sanctioning Iran for its nuclear activities. Friendlier relations will also facilitate vital initiatives, like the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which are designed to keep weapons and fissile material out of the hands of terrorists -- our top national security priority.
Friday, September 17, 2010
It's About Time We Got START - By John Kerry | Foreign Policy
Thursday, September 16, 2010
NTI: Global Security Newswire - Senate Committee Passes "New START" Pact
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee today approved the "New START" nuclear arms control treaty, sending it to the full chamber for ratification, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 15).
(Sep. 16) - Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.), left, and ranking panel Republican Richard Lugar (Ind.), shown last year. The committee today signed off on ratification of a new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control treaty, which now awaits approval from the full Senate (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images).
The vote in favor of the U.S.-Russian pact was 14-4, with three GOP lawmakers supporting the resolution of ratification: panel ranking member Richard Lugar (Ind.) and Senators Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Johnny Isakson (Ga.).
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April signed the agreement. The deal requires the former Cold War adversaries to each cut their deployed strategic nuclear weapons to 1,550 warheads, down from the maximum of 2,200 allowed by 2012 under a 2002 agreement. They must both also restrict their active nuclear delivery vehicles to 700, with another 100 platforms allowed in reserve.
The Senate should act on the treaty "as soon as possible," said committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) He said a vote was likely to happen after November's midterm elections.
At least eight Republican senators would need to support the treaty to achieve the 67 votes required for ratification.
"I personally believe we will have the votes to ratify this," Kerry said. In Moscow, there is little doubt that Russian lawmakers would sign off on the pact.
The ratification resolution was prepared by Lugar, who sought to address GOP concerns about the treaty that were not resolved by a draft resolution written by Kerry (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 16).
Republican senators have expressed concerns that the treaty would constrain U.S. missile defense activities and could allow Moscow room to breach its obligations, the Associated Press reported. They also pressed the Obama administration to ramp up funding to ensure the viability of the remaining U.S. nuclear complex.
Committee member Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) made it clear during the hearing that his concerns persisted.
"If we are going to move ahead with the commitment not to protect the people of the United States, I think everyone in this country ought to know it," he said.
However, DeMint went on to negotiate behind closed doors with Kerry, Lugar and others a new version of a missile defense amendment that the South Carolina Republican had offered. The committee passed that compromise amendment in a unanimous voice vote, though DeMint was not present for that decision or for the vote on the full ratification resolution.
Kerry said the pact is crucial to the nation's security. Supporters have also noted that placing the treaty into force would allow the United States to once again conduct verification monitoring of Russia's nuclear force. Such inspections were halted following the December 2009 expiration of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Desmond Butler, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 16).
“By ratifying this treaty, we will limit Russia’s nuclear arsenal,” Kerry said. “We will regain the ability to inspect their nuclear forces. And we will redouble international support for our nonproliferation efforts. At a moment when the world has imposed sanctions on Iran for its nuclear ambitions, this treaty validates American leadership and moves the world an important step closer to reducing the threat from nuclear weapons" (Peter Baker, New York Times, Sept. 16).
Citizens for Global Solutions - Ratify New START Now!
Last April the U.S. and Russia signed the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which puts us one step closer to eliminating nuclear weapons. Together, the U.S. and Russia possess almost 95% of the world’s strategic nuclear weapons, and the Treaty will cut these nuclear arsenals by one-third. But, for the Treaty to enter into force it must be ratified by both countries, which means that two-thirds (67 votes) of the Senate must vote in favor of the Treaty.
Tell your two Senators we need New START NOW!
