Senate approval of START presents challenges

"Verifiable reductions in bloated nuclear stockpiles are prudent and long overdue. New START is clearly in the U.S. national security interest and I believe it will gain well over the two-thirds majority needed for ratification,"  Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Ploughshares-funded Arms Control Association told Reuters.  Although Presidents Obama and Medvedev agreed to meet in Prague next week to sign the agreement, it's unclear when the treaty will be sent to the Senate.  Experts noted that while Senator Richard Lugar's (R-IN) support for the treaty bodes will for its passage, ratification will not be easy. "Given the bruising partisan fracas over healthcare reform, Republicans can be expected to demand several pounds of nuclear and missile defense modernization flesh in exchange for their approval of START," said Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, also a Ploughshares Fund grantee.