Republicans Look To Sink START Treaty

By Steve Hynd

When the Obama administration agreed the new START nuclear arms control treaty with Russia it was greeted with universal aclaim by arms control experts, who had been nervous when the Bush administration had dragged its feet on the matter. Now, the Party of No looks like it will succeed in nuking the treaty, making us all less safe.

While a simple majority is enough to pass it through the panel, 67 votes will be needed for ratification by the full Senate. The House does not vote on treaties.

Given the partisanship of the upper chamber and the midterm elections four months away, there is little chance of securing the vote of every Senate Democrat and the backing of least eight Republicans anytime soon.

...Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the treaty �is not likely to come up before October� and perhaps not until after the election. He said there has been no Democratic whipping so far, but acknowledged the treaty will be a challenge to ratify.

�Kyl is leading the charge against it,� Durbin said.

If the treaty does not get approved this year, it would be a major setback for Obama, who has stressed the need to reduce arms while maintaining a strong U.S. defense.

Obama�s work on the arms treaty was cited as one of the reasons the president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

The last START treaty ended in December, and although both countries have agreed to observe its terms, actual verification has ended. Proponents use that to bolster the case for ratification, as well as the damaging message that would be sent around the world by Senate failure to ratify the treaty.

GOP Whip Jon Kyl (Ariz.), a serial warmonger, wants a modernization program for America's thousands of warheads before he'll agree to the treaty's ratification. Deficit reduction just isn't an issue when it comes to spending money on weapons of mass destruction. The GOP is also pushing the neocon think-tank line that the START treaty would hurt America's missile defense program. Thus they are giving the game away - for the neocons that program has always been aimed at Russia, not nations like Iran, and has always been about gaining the U.S. a de facto first strike capability. Think about how dangerous that gambit is.