22 Republicans Balk at Arms Treaty

If possible Republican supporters of President Obama’s new arms control treaty with Russia are beginning to come into view, so are the opponents.

Twenty-two Republican senators wrote a letter to their party’s Senate leader this week insisting on a long floor debate and plenty of amendments if the treaty is brought to a floor vote in the lame-duck session this month.

The letter, signed by leading treaty opponents like Senators Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, argued that a lengthy debate was needed to allow for all the conditions they would impose on the treaty.

“We have numerous amendments requiring significant debate to the treaty as well as the resolution of ratification that we would like to offer and have votes on,” the senators said in the letter to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. “It would be unwise and improper to do this in a hurried fashion over the course of only a few days.”

The length of debate has become a critical issue because of the short time remaining before the current Congress expires at the end of the month and all the issues competing for limited floor time. Noting that the treaty was signed eight months ago and has undergone 18 hearings, Democrats argue that the treaty can be considered in three to five days on the floor.

According to the White House, the Treaty of Moscow, the Chemical Weapons Convention, Start II, and the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty were each debated for just two days before being voted on. The original Start treaty took five days on the floor, while the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty took nine.

Treaty supporters see demands for more time as a way of ensuring that the clock would run out this month. If the treaty is pushed into the next Congress, the White House will need at least five more Republicans to get the 67 votes needed for passage.
“This is a transparent ploy to try to kill the treaty and say goodbye to reasonable, verifiable limits on Russia’s nuclear arsenal,” Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association and one of the most vocal supporters of the treaty, said of the letter.

Crucially, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the lead Republican negotiator on the treaty, did not sign the letter. He touched off a furious White House response last month when he said there was not enough time to consider the treaty during a lame-duck session. But Mr. since then, Kyl has continued to engage in talks with Democrats and has not ruled out a vote.

In an interview with the radio host Hugh Hewitt, Mr. Kyl said debate on the treaty would have to begin next week, and early to mid-week, to have enough time to properly consider it this month. He continued to decline to say whether he would vote for it or not, but said, “My position on the treaty will be made crystal clear next week,” he said.