Global Security Newswire

It could take the U.S. Senate until next year to ratify a new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday (see GSN, April 12).

"I'm going to do everything I can to advance this as quickly as I can," Reid said of the treaty, which requires two-thirds Senate approval to be ratified, Agence France-Presse reported.

"It may take until the first of the [new] year to get it done, but I think it's important we try to get this done," he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week signed the replacement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. It would obligate the two former Cold War adversaries to both lower their respective strategic arsenals to 1,550 fielded warheads and to limit their deployed nuclear delivery vehicles -- missiles, submarines and bombers -- to 700, with another 100 permitted in reserve. Under a 2002 pact, Moscow and Washington had until 2012 to reduce their deployed strategic stockpiles to a maximum of 2,200 weapons each.

A spokesman said Reid would call the "New START" pact up for a full Senate vote "as quickly as possible" once the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had approved the treaty. Reid is"confident it can be done by the end of the year," the spokesman said.

Democrats have only 59 seats in the Senate and would require support from no less than eight Republicans for the treaty to be ratified.

"This is a step forward for humanity," Reid said of the new pact. "I can't imagine -- although I've been surprised in the past -- I can't imagine the Republicans saying no to this."

Some GOP senators have said that they would not vote for the accord if they believe it would curtail U.S. plans for a Europe-based missile shield that has been a source of frustration for Moscow. They have also said that their support would be contingent upon Obama's moves to update the nation's nuclear stockpile (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, April 13).

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) has said he expects the panel to begin considering the new treaty shortly after it it is submitted to the Senate next month, Reuters reported (Reuters/Yahoo!News, April 13).