START treaty passes first test

By J. Taylor Rushing - 09/16/10 01:55 PM ET
Comments 19

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday approved a critical first vote on the START arms-control treaty between the U.S. and Russia, setting up a final ratification vote likely after the November elections.

The committee voted 14-4 to approve the treaty, signed in April by President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The pact will reduce missiles, warheads and launchers in both countries and would replace a previous agreement that expired in December.

Thursday’s vote followed months of hearings arranged by committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and featuring former Defense and State secretaries going back to the Nixon administration who testified in support of it.

Republican Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee, Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Richard Lugar of Indiana voted for the treaty, as did all of the committee’s Democrats.

Kerry and Lugar, the ranking member, hailed the bipartisan vote, and Kerry said he was confident that he had enough votes in the full Senate for ratification. Ratification would require 67 votes in the full Senate — the House does not vote on treaties.

“This is the best of bipartisanship, and it’s the way the United States Senate and certainly this committee works best,â€