Clinton Says Senate `Must Act' on Nuclear Arms Pact With Russia
Senator John Kerry Global Climate Change
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Senator John Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts.
Senator John Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. Senate must vote to ratify a treaty with Russia to cut nuclear weapons when lawmakers return in September from their monthlong recess.
“Our national security is at risk,” Clinton said in a statement to reporters at the State Department in Washington. “It’s been more than eight months since we’ve had inspectors on the ground in Russia” who give “a vital window into Russia’s arsenal.”
The agreement, which is a priority for President Barack Obama, would replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, that expired in December and left the former Cold War rivals with no way to verify each other’s nuclear weapons.
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, delayed a vote by the panel to round up more bipartisan support. The extra time may help get more Republicans on board, he said. Democrats control the Senate 59-41, with 67 votes, or two-thirds, needed for ratification.
“When the Senate returns they must act,” Clinton said today. The treaty “will advance our national security and provide stability and predictability between the world’s two leading nuclear powers,” she said.
Democrats, including Kerry, say the U.S. will need to set an example of arms cuts as Obama and other top officials press their counterparts to impose more of their own sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program to complement United Nations penalties adopted earlier this year.
Republicans including Arizona Senator Jon Kyl have balked at a treaty they say could hamstring U.S. plans for a European missile defense system that Russia opposes.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net; Flavia Krause-Jackson in Washington at fjackson@bloomberg.net.
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