Eleven Republicans Now Say They'll Vote For START

UPDATE (10:07am) — Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced his support for New START on Tuesday morning. Speaking on the Senate floor, Alexander said he was satisfied that the treaty would not inhibit the U.S. from defending itself from nuclear attack.

“There is nothing within the Treaty itself that would hamper the development or deployment of our missile defense,” Alexander said.

In a letter to President Obama yesterday, Alexander signaled his intention to vote for New START. Fellow Republican Thad Cochran (Miss.) co-signed the letter.

With Alexander and Cochran aboard, Democrats should now have more than enough votes to ratify the treaty…

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) may force a vote to end debate on the New START treaty as early as Tuesday, sources say.

Reid and other Democrats believe they finally have enough votes to pass the treaty, which requires 67 votes for ratification. All 58 Democrats — including Independents Joe Lieberman (Conn.) and Bernie Sanders (Vt.) — plan on voting for it, and at least nine Republicans have signaled their support in recent days, with Sens. Scott Brown (Mass) and Judd Gregg (N.H.) being the latest to climb on board.

While the White House says New START is desperately needed to restore America’s relationship with Russia and ensure that both nations reduce the size of their nuclear arsenals, Senate Republicans believe language in the treaty’s preamble would cede power to Russia by placing restrictions on the U.S.’ missile defense shield.

The Senate went into a rare closed session yesterday to examine sensitive intelligence components of the treaty, voting afterwards to reject three Republican amendments. The add-ons would have effectively made it impossible for Democrats to ratify New START during the final days of the current lame duck session. As of Monday night, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Whip John Kyl (Ariz.) were still planning on voting against ratification, as were other more conservative GOP members such as Richard Shelby (Ala.), who called the treaty “flawed.”

“The shortcomings of New START are numerous, substantial, and serious,” Shelby said. “I will not support subordinating U.S. national security to an untrustworthy partner and neither should the United States Senate.”

However, the White House is counting on pressure from key former Republican foreign policy officials to persuade on the fence GOP’ers like Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) to cross the aisle. On Monday, Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Advisor to Republican Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, called McConnell and Kyl’s opposition to New START “baffling.”

“It’s baffling to me,” Scowcroft told ABC News. “It doesn’t tie our hands on missile defense…as the president has already demonstrated; we’re moving ahead on missile defense on Europe.”

Furthermore, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote a letter to Republicans yesterday at the request of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in an attempt to ease any concerns over New START.

Former Secretaries of State James Baker III and Henry Kissinger are two other prominent Republicans who also support ratifying New START.

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