Statement from the Vice President on the New START Treaty

In his statement Vice President Joe Biden said that  “If we do not ratify the New START Treaty, it would be an extreme detriment to our National Security. The two nations who account for 90% of the World’s Nuclear Arsenal would not be able to monitor each other. We, as a Nation, would be at extreme risk. After the Consultation from Senator Kyl, the Senator, who said we should not vote on this until next year, the government has requested an additional $4.1 Billion for the modernization of the United States Nuclear Arsenal.”

This piece is the opinion of the authors and is not a reflection of  MDAA’s view 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.

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