Senate Divided On START

By Kyle LaFleur

Top Senate Intelligence and Defense Leaders from both parties squared off Wednesday on Capitol Hill about whether the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia should be voted on before Congress’s lame duck session ends. 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) urged fellow Senators to stop delaying the vote on ratifying the treaty. Kerry pointed out that the original START Agreement in 1992 occurred in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and required only five days of floor debate to be approved by a vote of 93 to 6.

“There is no legitimate reason not to finish the work that has been done to date,” said Kerry. The new version of START needs 67 votes in the Senate to pass.

Republicans, meanwhile, argued Wednesday that more debate is needed on the international treaty. Leading the opposition was Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who felt the timing of the vote would not be appropriate. 

“We all believe that after the tax legislation is dealt with…the next order of business should be to fund the government,” he said. The Senate began debate today on a $1.2 billion omnibus measure to keep the government operating through the end of the 2011 fiscal year.