There is still an excellent chance that the New START agreement gets considered in the post-election lame duck session.

Despite the cries of gloom and doom by some naysayers.

Look at what a spokesman for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a Weekly Standard piece.

Don Stewart, the press spokesman, says he thinks that Democrats “probably” will not be able to get New START completed before the end of the year.

He did not say it cannot happen.  

He did not say Hell No!

He did not say, No way, No how.

Let’s take a closer look at Stewart’s statement.

Treaty ratification, he says, will not happen before Illinois Senator-elect Mark Kirk gets sworn in, probably around November 29.

So the treaty will not come up the week of November 15 when the Senate returns.

“It won’t happen that first week….Because they’ve already set up the votes for that week.”

We already knew that.  We knew the treaty would not come up the week of November 15. In fact, we hope that Senators Reid and McConnell agree to a time agreement in the first week back for the Senate to bring up the treaty some time in December.

Stewart mentions the heavy schedule of legislation for the lame duck.

We recognize that getting New START this year is a heavy lift, but it is still very possible.  There’s certainly no substantive reason not to consider the treaty, as our military leadership has noted time and time again.  

And most former senior Republican national security officials.

And reading between McConnell’s spokesman lines, or at least what he does not say, the door is still open to bringing the treaty up.

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Will Reid Schedule a Vote on START?
Daniel Halper – November 8, 2010 6:47 PM

http://www.weeklystandard.com/print/blogs/start-likely-not-lame-duck-issue-senate_515287.html

Conservative foreign policy wonks are worried that the Democratic majority in the Senate might try to squeeze through the new START agreement before the influx of new Republican senators come to work in January. But Don Stewart, spokesman for Republican leader Senator Mitch McConnell, thinks that the Democrats probably will not be able to get new START through during the lame duck session, and almost certainly not before Senator-elect Mark Kirk is sworn, which will happen probably around Thanksgiving.

Given the planned schedule, Stewart says, “It won’t happen that first week….Because they’ve already set up the votes for that week.”

To change the schedule around, “It will take unanimous consent to get off the [current schedule],” and that’s pretty unlikely. Plus, “There isn’t unanimous consent, so you’d have to go through a cloture vote, which would take days.”

Stewart also cites the Senate’s busy work schedule to suggest that even after Senator-elect Kirk is sworn in, the Democratic majority will have to contend with a full docket before even considering new START. The Senate has to deal with budget issues, tax issues, and a slew of other minor bills and end-of-year business before even getting chance to consider the controversial treaty.

New START is a follow-on agreement with the Russians for both countries to reduce the nuclear arms in each country’s arsenal. President Obama signed the agreement with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, but, according to the U.S. Constitution, all treaties must be ratified by the Senate in order to be valid.

It was a bad election that produced a worse Congress. While gridlock was often the rule in the United States Senate for the past two years, that body is likely to be even more dysfunctional, over the next two years.

Many excellent incumbents went down to defeat, especially progressive stalwart Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI). Quality challengers were also swamped by the political tidal wave.
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The election year was marked at the start by the astonishing upset victory of Scott Brown (R-MA) in the special election to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. The bluest of states selected a little-known conservative Republican — a harbinger of things to come.

Then, three senior Democrats, Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, announced their retirements.

The surprises continued. Three senior Republicans were denied renomination by their own party in Utah, Pennsylvania and Alaska.

The nascent Tea Party movement produced inexperienced candidates that upset establishment Republicans in Kentucky, Florida, Nevada, Delaware and Colorado.

The unusual election results were caused by a strange melding of disparate forces: dissatisfaction by the left and the right with President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress for entirely different reasons; suspicion by independent voters of government bailouts; anger and frustration over massive unemployment; and the continued American bloodshed in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

But there was no mandate for Republican alternative policies, nor any common understanding of what those policies might be. The public remains divided about GOP advocacy for tax cuts for the wealthy and repeal of some or all of the President’s health care legislation.

Indeed, as much as voters distrust Democrats, they dislike Republicans even more. An October 2010 Washington Post poll found that 36% of the public approves of the Democrats’ job in Congress while only 30% approve of the Republicans. When government control is split between the two parties, Republicans will have great difficulty implementing their own program, whatever it may be.

The legislative outlook for the next two years is not positive. Presumptive House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) argued shortly before the election: “This is not a time for compromise.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) suggested: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

With such views, Congress is unlikely to come to agreement on reviving the economy, addressing climate change or healthcare, repairing the fraying infrastructure of the country and improving our education to prepare for the global economic challenges.

In the wreckage of the election, there are a few shards of hope. The election issues focused on the economy, jobs and the federal budget deficit. Virtually no attention was paid to national security issues.

Thus there is no election consensus against further nuclear weapons reductions, expanded efforts to safeguard nuclear weapons and materials, the nuclear aspirations of Iran and North Korea or the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Without positive evidence, we can only hope that the President and some Members of Congress will have some running room on these issues.

The Tea Party movement has been united against federal spending but split on foreign policy. Many Tea Party candidates have followed the lead of former presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX), father of Kentucky’s Senator-elect Rand Paul (R), who in a letter to Foreign Policy Magazine stated: “We cannot talk about fiscal responsibility while spending trillions on occupying and bullying the rest of the world.”

Most candidates simply avoided national security issues.  When asked whether the Tea Party had a foreign policy platform, former U.S. Representative and Freedom Works founder Dick Armey admitted: “I don’t think so.”

Congress will be meeting in a post-election or lame duck session.  Arms control advocates hope that in the coming weeks, the Senate will give its advice and consent to the New START nuclear reductions treaty. That would be one way to advance American national security interests in a difficult political environment.  

Thank you for all your support of Council-endorsed candidates.  The results of these elections are listed below.

The Big Picture:

8 Wins
19 Losses
1 Undecided

Candidates endorsed by Council for a Livable World in italics.

Winners are in bold.

Note: These percentages may still be adjusted by late-counted votes and absentee votes.

Arizona 07 – Race too close to call
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D) – 48.6%
Ruth McClung (R) – 45.8%

California 44
Bill Hedrick (D) – 42%
Rep. Ken Calvert (R) – 58%

California 45
Steve Pougnet (D) – 41%
Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R) – 52%

Colorado 04
Rep. Betsy Markey (D) – 41%
Cory Gardner (R) – 53%

Connecticut 04
Rep. Jim Himes (D) – 50%
Dan Debicella (R) – 49%

Delaware AL
John Carney (D) – 57%
Glen Urquhart (R) – 41%

Florida 25
Joe Garcia (D) – 42%
David Rivera (R) – 52%

Hawaii 01
Colleen Hanabusa (D) – 53%
Rep. Charles Djou (R) – 47%

Illinois 14
Rep. Bill Foster (D) – 45%
Randy Hultgren (R) – 51%

Louisiana 02
Cedric Richmond (D) – 65%
Rep. Joe Cao (R) – 34%

Massachusetts 03
Rep. Jim McGovern (D) – 57%
Marty Lamb (R) – 39%

Massachusetts 04
Rep. Barney Frank (D) – 54%
Sean Bielat (R) – 43%

New Hampshire 01
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D) – 43%
Frank Guinta (R) – 54%

New Hampshire 02
Ann McClane Kuster (D) – 46%
Charlie Bass (R) – 49%

New York 19
Rep. John Hall (D) – 47%
Nan Hayworth (R) – 53%

New York 20
Rep. Scott Murphy (D) – 45%
Christopher Gibson (R) – 55%

Ohio 13
Rep. Betty Sutton (D) – 55%
Tom Ganley (R) – 45%

Ohio 15
Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D) – 41%
Steve Stivers (R) – 55%

Oregon 04
Rep. Pete DeFazio (D)  – 54%
Art Robinson (R) – 45%

Pennsylvania 06
Manan Trivedi (D) – 43%
Rep. Jim Gerlach (R) – 57%

Pennsylvania 07
Bryan Lentz (D) – 44%
Patrick Meehan (R) – 55%

Pennsylvania 08</span&gt
Rep. Patrick Murphy (D) – 44%
Mike Fitzpatrick (R) – 56%

Pennsylvania 15
John Callahan (D) – 39%
Rep. Charlie Dent (R) – 54%
Jake Towne (I) – 7%

South Carolina 02
Rob Miller (D) – 44%
Rep. Joe Wilson (R) – 54%

South Carolina 05
Rep. John Spratt (D) – 45%
Mike Mulvaney (R) – 55%

Virginia 05
Rep. Tom Perriello (D) – 47%
Robert Hurt (R) – 51%

Washington 0
Suzan DelBene (D) – 45%
Rep. Dave Reichert (R) – 55%

Wisconsin 08
Rep. Steven Kagen (D) – 45%
Reid Ribble (R) – 55%

Contests where Council for a Livable World has endorsed:

(winner is bolded)

California
52% – Sen. Barbara Boxer (D)
42% – Carly Fiorina (R)

Colorado
48% – Sen. Michael Bennet (D)
47% – Ken Buck (R)

Delaware
57% – Chris Coons (D)
40% – Christine O’Donnell (R)

Iowa
33% – Roxanne Conlin (D)
65% – Sen. Charles Grassley (R)

Kentucky
44% – Jack Conway (D)
56% – Rand Paul (R)

Missouri
41% – Robin Carnahan (D)
54% – U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt (R)

Nevada
50% – Sen. Harry Reid (D)
45% – Sharron Angle (R)

New Hampshire
37% – U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes (D)
60% – Kelly Ayotte (R)

Ohio
39% – Lee Fisher (D)
57% – Rob Portman (R)

Pennsylvania
49% – U.S. Rep. Joseph Sestak (D)
51% – Former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey (R)

Washington
51% – Sen. Patty Murray (D)
48% – Dino Rossi (R)

Wisconsin
47% – Sen. Russ Feingold (D)
52% – Ron Johnson (R)

Other critical elections:
Alaska  (no winner declared)
24% – Scott McAdams (D)
34% – Joe Miller (R)
41% – write ins (including Lisa Murkowski)

Arkansas
37% – Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D)
58% – U.S. Rep. John Boozman (R)

Connecticut
54% – Richard Blumenthal (D)
44% – Linda McMahon (R)

Florida
20% – U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek (D)
49% – Marco Rubio (R)
30% – Gov. Charlie Crist (I)

Illinois
46% – Alexi Giannoulias (D)
48% – U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R)

Louisiana
38% – U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon (D)
57% – Senator David Vitter (R)

New York
61% – Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D)
37% – former U.S. Rep. Joe DioGuardi (R)

North Carolina
43% – Elaine Marshall (D)
55% – Sen. Richard Burr (R)

West Virginia
54% – Gov. Joe Manchin (D)
43% – John Raese (R)

Today is Election Day and a quarter of all registered voters have already cast their ballots! However, there are still many close races and we need you, your friends and family to get out and vote!

There is still time to vote, click here to find your polling location!

If you’ve already voted, encourage your friends, family and co-workers to get to their voting stations and show their support for arms control candidates.  Do your part to get out the vote today.

Remember to vote for progressive candidates like Michael Bennet in Colorado, Suzan DelBene in Washington, Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania and Steve Kagen in Wisconsin and other Council-endorsed candidates listed here!

The 2008 election produced many victories for progressive candidates but the tide has changed in this year’s midterm election. Tea party candidates are making gains across the country. We’ve taken significant steps in the past two years towards a more positive national security agenda and we cannot afford to lose progressive voices in Congress!

Help us continue on a path towards a safer, more secure world and cast your ballot today! And once you have voted, make sure your progressive friends and family get out and vote, too.

Thank you for casting your ballot!