The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has re-scheduled the vote for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty for mid-September. This schedule means that the Committee believes it is time to move from hearings and questions to decisions this fall.
New START requires modest reductions in the deployed strategic nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and Russia and restores an essential means of monitoring and verifying each side’s nuclear forces that has been absent since the START I treaty expired on December 5, 2009.
Although we believe that the Senate will give their advice and consent to the treaty by an overwhelmingly margin, the treaty still remains in limbo. As of today, it’s been 241 days and counting since START I expired and with it our on-site monitoring and verification presence in Russia.
It is important to review the treaty before voting. However, raising questions and concerns, while part of the process, should not be used as an excuse to delay the treaty indefinitely.
Continue to call or write your Senators and urge them to support this treaty!
