Senate Debates Russia Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty

Published December 19, 2010, FoxNews.com

WASHINGTON -- An arms treaty with Russia to reduce stockpiles of nuclear warheads goes into a fifth day of discussion in the Senate on Sunday, but it's uncertain whether the debate will bring the treaty closer to passage.


Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he will not support ratification. He made no prediction about the treaty's success or failure if it comes to a vote, and said many Republicans are just now getting deeply involved in the issue.

"Members are uneasy about it, don't feel thoroughly familiar with it, and I think we would have been a lot better off to take our time," McConnell said. "Rushing it right before Christmas strikes me as trying to jam us. ... I think that was not the best way to get the support of people like me," he said on CNN.


Some Republicans oppose the treaty negotiated by President Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, saying that the preamble of the treaty links missile defense and strategic offensive weapons, which have been separated since then-President Ronald Reagan first negotiated START with Soviet chief Mikhail Gorbachev.

"We're just a rubber stamp for the administration and the Russians, and the administration for the first time wasn't willing to stand up to the Russians and say you're not going to implicate our missile defenses," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the top Republican leading the charge against ratification.

On Saturday, an amendment by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., failed on a 59-37 vote to send the treaty back to the negotiating table. Kyl said Republicans have been warned that Democrats leading the debate will not permit an amendment to the treaty.


"Well what are we going through this exercise then for?" Kyl asked.

But calling it the longest length of time the Senate has debated a treaty, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin predicted the START would get the two-thirds vote needed to pass.

Kyl "has had ample opportunity to express himself, to file any amendments he thinks may be necessary. As of today, of the fifth day of debate, we've voted on one amendment. There will be another raised this afternoon. I think we need to bring this to a vote," said Durbin, who appeared with Kyl on "Fox News Sunday."

Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a supporter of the treaty, said several Republicans will support ratification and he believes the votes are there.

"The problem is getting to that final vote," Lugar said on ABC's "This Week."

Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, told the same program that the general in charge of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency says "unequivocally" there's no restraint to missile defense in the treaty.

"There is not legal binding statement whatsoever. There's a sort-of statement that for political purposes was necessary to achieve what we achieved. The important thing is the Russians wanted to have a binding statement precluding us from having a missile defense. There is nothing in there that restricts our missile defense system," Kerry said.

Kyl, who argued that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is concerned by the language in the preamble, said he's not satisfied with President Obama's pledge to construct a missile defense system in Europe, which the president negotiated last year after the Russian Federation objected to a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"Tell it to the Russians, send a letter to the Russians. In fact, change the preamble to the treaty, which would eliminate any doubt about the issue," Kyl said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., added that he's going to write to the Russians and won't vote for the treaty until they provide an assurance that they understand the preamble does not limit four-stage missile defense.

"You want to create chaos in the world, sign a treaty where everybody thinks the world is safer and down the road then withdraw because we intend to do something they don't want us to do. I need to know the answer to that," Graham told CBS' "Face the Nation. "Our military leaders are not in line with asking to give me the Russian view, I want the Russians to tell me their view of our ability to build a strategic missile defense and we can wait to next year."


The treaty is a foreign policy priority for Obama that would limit each country's strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, down from the current ceiling of 2,200. There's also a system for monitoring and verification.

Treaties require a two-thirds majority of those voting in the Senate, which convenes at noon for a closed session.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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