Partisan Politics Stall START in Senate

Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today: Wednesday, August 4, 2010:

Vote on New START Nuclear Arms Treaty Delayed in Senate - The Washington Post [link]

• The Obama administration's hopes for rapid, bipartisan approval of its new arms-control treaty with Russia have dimmed, with Republican senators making clear that they will not support ratification without iron-clad assurances of future spending to maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
• Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser for President George H.W. Bush, said recently that the political battle was the most bitter he had seen over a nuclear treaty.
• Some treaty supporters believe that Republicans are dragging their feet on the treaty for political reasons. "Some just don't want to give Obama a victory" before the midterm elections, Scowcroft said.
• "If we forced a vote today, I would have won. But I would have angered some people and made them feel they weren't being included," Kerry said. "I think it's important to build a broader consensus." He hopes to resolve Republicans' concerns "in a matter of weeks."

Vote on U.S.-Russia Arms Treaty Put Off to September - Reuters [link]

• The chairman of a U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday delayed a vote on the new arms control treaty with Russia until at least mid-September, after months of effort to win backers produced scant Republican support.
• Only one Republican, Richard Lugar, has so far publicly supported it, and in recent weeks, the treaty has drawn more Republican criticism as partisan rhetoric heats up ahead of November 2 congressional elections.
• "At some point we need to think about the United States of America and our security interests," Lugar said.
• Arms control advocates charge some Republicans are recklessly moving the goal posts -- and seeking more arms spending for their own states.
• "It is irresponsible and unnecessary for a few senators to hold New START and U.S. national security hostage for billions more dollars for weapons laboratories," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.
• NOTE: The Arms Control Association is a Ploughshares Fund grantee.

Lugar: Time to get moving on New START - Foreign Policy's The Cable blog [link]

• With the Senate Foreign Relations Committee having delayed its vote on President Obama's nuclear treaty with Russia until September, the committee's top Republican is warning that time is of the essence.
• Richard Lugar, R-IN said he had argued internally for holding the committee vote this week to allow Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, to go ahead and reserve precious Senate floor time for treaty consideration in September.
• He cited the fact that U.S. inspectors have not been able to verify Russian behavior regarding nuclear weapons deployment since the original START agreement expired late last year. "We ought to vote now and let the chips fall where they may. It's that important."
• Committee Chairman John Kerry said, "Every senator should be prepared to mark up this resolution of advice and consent on September 15 or 16." A draft of the resolution will be circulated well before then, Kerry added.
• Meanwhile, more fence-sitting senators seem to be signaling that they are getting ready to support New START.

START Vote Delayed by McConnell's Obstructionism and Kyl's Nuclear Pork - Max Bergmann in The Wonk Room [link]

• Senator Kerry just announced today that he would delay the Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote on the New START Treaty.
• But the delay in the vote has really nothing to do with process or rushing. Mitch McConnell yesterday made it abundantly clear what the hold up is about – the GOP (and more specifically Senator Jon Kyl) hasn’t been bought off yet.
• Corker himself noted last week, he supports the treaty but is following Kyl’s lead and holding out for more pork.
• McConnell explicitly says buy off Kyl with nuclear pork: "All they have to do is find enough money to satisfy Senator Kyl that they are prepared to do what they said they would do… If it’s important to you, you can find a way, in an over a trillion dollar discretionary budget to fund it."
• McConnell’s interview basically says if Kyl is given what he wants than everyone will fall into line. But there is no mention of Richard Lugar who is a strong supporter of the treaty. This demonstrates where the ideological direction the GOP is headed.

Ploughshares Fund President Joe Cirincione Expects September Ratification fo New START Treaty - Ploughshares Fund Press Release [link]

• “The Senate’s debate has now shifted from policy to process,” Ploughshares Fund president Joe Cirincione stated. He said that Senators Kerry and Lugar have addressed any remaining Republican procedural concerns by detailing a clear, orderly process providing six additional weeks for Senate consideration before a September vote.
• “The Senate’s August recess will give members ample opportunity to resolve their remaining questions,” Cirincione concluded. “I am confident that Senators will return in September prepared to give the New START Treaty the overwhelming bipartisan approval it deserves.”
• “America’s military and defense leaders have told the Senate that is in the U.S. national security interest to get this treaty approved as quickly as possible,” said Cirincione. "Every day without New START in force is another day we don’t know for sure what is going on with Russia's nuclear weapons. That is not good for America.”

A View from the Dark Side

New START Treaty Could Erode Senate's Foreign Policy Role - Jack Goldsmith and Jeremy Rabkin [link]

• Consent to [the New START Treaty] as it stands will further erode the Senate's constitutional role in American foreign policy.
• This treaty does not constrain future development of missile defense. It does, however, create a Bilateral Consultative Commission with power to approve "additional measures as may be necessary to improve the viability and effectiveness of the treaty." The U.S. and Russian executive branches can implement these measures and thus amend U.S. treaty obligations -- without returning to the U.S. Senate or the Russian Duma.
• As more authority for making international agreements is transferred to the executive branch and international organizations, the cumulative effect of these arrangements becomes increasingly hard to square with the Senate's constitutional role in the treaty-making process and, more generally, with separation of powers.
• In short, only the Senate can protect its constitutional prerogatives. One way for the Senate to do this would be to condition its consent to the treaty on an interpretive "understanding" that the commission's amendment power extend only to technical treaty matters and not to limitations on missile defense.