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SECURITY TRUMPS POLITICS WITH NEW START TREATY APPROVAL
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Dec 22, 2010 - 3:51:56 PM

SECURITY TRUMPS POLITICS WITH NEW START TREATY APPROVAL

WASHINGTON, DC � The United States Senate agreed to the New START Treaty today. The bilateral nuclear arms treaty passed with bipartisan support by a 71 to 26 margin. Today�s vote came after months of highly partisan debate and despite a packed Senate schedule.

�The approval of the treaty is a testament to the courageous 13 Republicans who placed national security above obstructive partisan politics,� said Don Kraus, CEO of Citizens for Global Solutions. �President Obama, Vice-President Biden, and Senators Kerry, Lugar, and Reid deserve special praise for their vision and leadership. Adoption of this treaty demonstrates a commitment to responsible and cooperative U.S. global engagement.�

A November CNN poll noted that 82% of Americans supported ratification. Before the Senate vote, tens of thousands of American weighed in. Citizens for Global Solutions National Outreach Director Anu Joshi said, �I want to thank the thousands of Citizens for Global Solutions supporters who called, wrote to and met with their Senators to support ratification of New START. Their voices were a key part of this victory.�

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) is a bilateral nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia. It replaces the 1991 START I treaty, which expired in December 2009. The treaty will institute a new inspection and verification process. The treaty also requires the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers to be reduced by half, a two-thirds reduction from the original START treaty.

The treaty enjoys strong support from U.S. military leadership and numerous former secretaries of defense and state. The bi-partisan supporters of New START have all explicitly stated that the treaty will make the U.S. safer. Full Senate consideration came after more than 20 hearings and hundreds of questions to the administration.

Kraus continued, �New START is not just a step forward in reducing the unique destructive threat of nuclear weapons, it is a testament to the power of great cooperation on the global stage.�

The Senate has not passed a major multilateral treaty since the Chemical Weapons Convention was ratified 1997. While consideration of New START is the most important arms control treaty to come before the Senate in more than a decade, other treaties including the Law of the Sea and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) have yet to be considered Kraus continued, �Now that the Senate has shown it can rise above the partisan bickering that has dominated the national agenda in pursuit of a agenda that benefits all Americans, and the world, it should set its sights on also adopting these important agreements to benefit our nation�s economy, security, sustainability and credibility.�

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Citizens for Global Solutions is a national membership organization which envisions a future in which nations work together to abolish war, protect our rights and freedoms, and solve the problems facing humanity that no nation can solve alone. This vision requires effective democratic global institutions that will apply the rule of law while respecting the diversity and autonomy of national and local communities.