Senate Fight Ahead for START

United States Senate

After the release of the Nuclear Posture Review, the signing of the START treaty and the recent Nuclear Security Summit, many US senators still have questions regarding the plans the administration has with missile defense.  Many Republicans are weary that without these questions answered ratification of START may be difficult.

Of all President Barack Obama’s nuclear arms reduction initiatives — including his world without nuclear weapons and a test ban treaty — negotiating and ratifying an updated Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia was seen as the easiest step.

But in a congressional session so poisonous that even a jobs bill was in doubt at a time of soaring unemployment, securing the two-thirds vote of the Senate necessary to ratify the treaty is no sure thing.