Following up on Massimo’s story, Senator Kyl’s office sent around this statement today:
“When Majority Leader Harry Reid asked me if I thought the treaty could be considered in the lame duck session, I replied I did not think so given the combination of other work Congress must do and the complex and unresolved issues related to START and modernization. I appreciate the recent effort by the Administration to address some of the issues that we have raised and I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Kerry, DOD, and DOE officials.”
The administration wanted to get this done in December. Whether it gets pushed to the new year or not, they probably weren’t going to get 67 votes by nibbling at the margins. If, as Massimo reports, the Republican caucus goes as Kyl goes, a net of six new GOP-controlled seats shouldn’t make a big difference either way. But a few caveats worth considering: 1) This was supposed to be the Obama administration’s big win for the lame duck. It looks mighty unlikely now. 2) There was some earlier suspicion on the part of Democrats that Republican reticence to take up START in the lame duck was a way to extract more concessions for updating the nuclear arsenal. (If so, it worked.) Another delay may signal that the offer of an additional $4 billion isn’t enough. Or it just might mean there’s no deal to be had. 3) If it gets pushed to next year and Kyl et al. are on board, the ratification vote may provide some new arrivals such as Rand Paul their first opportunity to buck the leadership.
Update: The White House and John Kerry, the Democrats’ point-man in the Senate, are pushing back hard against Kyl’s delay. Their statements this afternoon (emphasis mine):
Statement from the Vice President on the New START Treaty
Failure to pass the New START Treaty this year would endanger our national security. Without ratification of this Treaty, we will have no Americans on the ground to inspect Russia’s nuclear activities, no verification regime to track Russia’s strategic nuclear arsenal, less cooperation between the two nations that account for 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, and no verified nuclear reductions. The New START treaty is a fundamental part of our relationship with Russia, which has been critical to our ability to supply our troops in Afghanistan and to impose and enforce strong sanctions on the Iranian government.
President Obama has made an extraordinary commitment to ensure the modernization of our nuclear infrastructure, which had been neglected for several years before he took office. We have made clear our plans to invest $80 billion on modernization over the next decade, and, based on our consultations with Senator Kyl, we plan to request an additional $4.1 billion for modernization over the next five years.
The new START Treaty enjoys broad, bipartisan support. The Senate has held 18 hearings on the Treaty. It was approved by the Foreign Relations Committee with bipartisan support. It has been endorsed by prominent former officials from both parties, including former Secretaries of State George Shultz, James Baker, Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, and Warren Christopher, former Defense Secretaries James Schlesinger, William Cohen, William Perry, Frank Carlucci, and Harold Brown, and former National Security Advisors Brent Scowcroft, Stephen Hadley, and Sandy Berger. It is consistent with previous Strategic Nuclear Arms Treaties, each of which passed with over 85 votes in the Senate.
Given new START’s bipartisan support and enormous importance to our national security, the time to act is now and we will continue to seek its approval by the Senate before the end of the year.
Washington, D.C. – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) released the following statement today on ratification of the New START Treaty:
“I talked with Senator Kyl today and I do not believe the door is closed to considering New START during the lame duck session. I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Lugar, Senator Kyl, our colleagues, and the Administration to get the New START treaty ratified by the Senate this year. Ratifying New START is not a political choice, it’s a national security imperative.”