McConnell: We dont need no stinkin Russian nuclear treaty

McConnell to Vote Against Russia Arms Treaty
Nov. 3: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., left, and House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio on Capitol Hill. WASHINGTON -- The Senate's Republican leader said Sunday he would oppose a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, complicating President Barack Obama's drive to secure a Foreign Policy victory in the final days of the postelection Congress. Senior Democrats still expressed confidence the Senate would ratify the accord and pushed for a showdown vote early this week. The White H...

Top Democrat predicts Senate will OK arms treaty
WASHINGTON – A top Democrat predicted Monday that the Senate will approve a new Arms Control treaty with Russia, but conceded that it will take "house by house combat" to collect enough votes from recalcitrant Republicans to prevail. The comments by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., came a day after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would oppose the accord, complicating President Barack Obama's prospects for achieving his top Foreign Policy priority. Schumer said Democra...

The START Treaty: A Flawed, Mishandled Treaty
CNN reported yesterday, “Senate Republicans mounted a counter-attack Sunday against ratifying a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia this year, trying to put off a vote that Democrats say they will win if it is held. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky led the way, telling CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ that members of his party need more time to consider the START accord. ‘I’ve decided I cannot support the treaty,’ McConnell said in his first ...

New START Revives Old Debates: What's At Stake
It wasn't supposed to be a nail-biter. But the outcome of the Senate vote scheduled for Tuesday to ratify the New START, the arms reduction treaty with Russia, remains in some doubt. The pact would replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 1991, or START, which expired last December. As with all treaties, a two-thirds vote of the Senate is required for New START's ratification. President Obama has cast the New START as an important milestone in the so-called reset of U.S. relations with Rus...

The final legislative drama -- New START
After passage of the tax-cut deal, as well as the Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," ratification of the New START arms-reduction treaty with Russia represents the final legislative drama during this lame-duck session of Congress. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a vote to end debate on treaty for Tuesday. That needs 60 votes to pass, which appears to be a given. The uncertainty, however, is over ratification, which will need 67 votes -- so at least nine GOP votes -- and that acti...

Senate Dems push ahead on arms control treaty
WASHINGTON—Democrats have moved a step closer toward a crucial Senate vote on a new Arms Control treaty with Russia, beating back Republican efforts to alter the accord and setting up a showdown with the GOP on President Barack Obama's top Foreign Policy priority. The White House has made ratification of the landmark agreement an imperative in the closing days of the postelection Congress, but its hopes for the pact were complicated Sunday as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,...

GOP Senate leader won't vote for nuclear arms pact with Russia
Sen. Mitch McConnell says he fears that the START Treaty might hamper American Missile Defenses. WASHINGTON — The Senate's Republican leader said Sunday that he would oppose a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, complicating President Barack Obama's drive to secure a Foreign Policy victory in the final days of the post-election Congress. Democrats still expressed confidence the Senate would ratify the accord and pushed for a showdown vote early this week. The White House and Democrats are de...

William Hartung: On New START, Kyl's Last Stand
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) is feeling grumpy these days. And the closer the New START agreement comes to being ratified by the Senate, the grumpier he is going to get. How can Kyl object to New START? It is a modest treaty that will reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals by about one-third, while simultaneously restoring a system for monitoring each side's nuclear forces to replace the one that lapsed over a year ago. These are worthwhile achievements in their own right, and they more than justify...

Republicans Block DREAM Act, Another Old Media Lie
The Old Media is up to its old tricks again, this time making the GOP the fall guy for the failure of the latest Immigration Bill. Nearly every news outlet is reporting that the Republicans have blocked the DREAM Act, many of these reports even say so right in the headline. The truth, however, is not that the GOP blocked it, but that the Democrats didn't get all its own members to vote for it. In fact, if the Democrats could have gotten five more of their own members to vote "yea" the bill woul...

McConnell to Vote Against Russia Arms Treaty
Nov. 3: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., left, and House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio on Capitol Hill. WASHINGTON -- The Senate's Republican leader said Sunday he would oppose a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, complicating President Barack Obama's drive to secure a Foreign Policy victory in the final days of the postelection Congress. Senior Democrats still expressed confidence the Senate would ratify the accord and pushed for a showdown vote early this week. The White H...

Senate to review START treaty behind closed doors
Washington (CNN) -- The Senate is set to meet behind closed doors Monday -- in so-called "executive session" -- to resume consideration of the Controversial new nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Democratic leaders, who claim they have the votes necessary to ratify the accord, are pushing to get the agreement approved before the conclusion of the current lame-duck congressional session. Skeptical Senate Republicans, however, are continuing their efforts to push consideration of the trea...

Dems push ahead on U.S.-Russia arms treaty
WASHINGTON — Democrats have moved a step closer toward a crucial U.S. Senate vote on a new Arms Control treaty with Russia, beating back Republican efforts to alter the accord and setting up a showdown with the Republican Party on President Barack Obama's top Foreign Policy priority. The White House has made ratification of the landmark agreement an imperative in the closing days of the postelection Congress, but its hopes for the pact were complicated Sunday as Senate Minority Leade...

Stop the nonsense on START
Christmas is coming. But apparently the Senate Republicans didn’t get the memo. Despite getting everything they wanted by securing $800 billion in Tax Cuts for the Richest 1.5 percent of Americans when they should have received a sock full o’coal for holding hostage Tax Cuts for every American to secure their deal, the Republicans are still in a very grumpy and non-Christmassy mood. President Obama has been pressing the Senate for months to ratify the New START agreement he negotiated and ...

Republican criticizes addition of Pell grant provisions to short-term budget bill
Nearly $6 billion in spending for Pell grants in a proposed bill to keep the government running has raised the ire of some Republicans as Congress tries to wrap up its work.  House Appropriations Committee ranking member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) decried the inclusion of $5.7 billion for the Pell Grant program, which will incur a shortage without additional funding, calling it "a perennial priority of the House Democrat leadership and Appropriations Committee Chairman [David] Obey [D-Wis.]." The...

Senate Democrats Make Final Push on Nuclear Treaty
Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Supporters of a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia said they’re confident of having enough votes to ratify the accord, even as top Republicans said they will try to delay it until next year. The Senate yesterday rejected a Republican-sponsored amendment that Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry said would have scuttled the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Lawmakers resumed debate today on the treaty, one of their last major pieces of business...

McConnell: Treaty a Non-Starter
Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won't vote for the START Treaty: The Senate’s Republican leader came out Sunday against a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, warning Democrats not to rush through President Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy priority in the final days of the postelection Congress. Top Democrats still expressed confidence the Senate would ratify the accord by year’s end. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made no prediction about the treaty’s success or ...

A flawed, mishandled treaty (Sen. Mitch McConnell)
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Monday regarding the consideration of the START Treaty:   Over the weekend, I indicated that I would be voting against the START Treaty. This morning, I would like to explain my decision in a little more detail.   And I’ll begin with the most obvious objection.   First and foremost, a decision of this magnitude should not be decided under the pressure of a deadline. The American People do

McConnell Wont Vote for START Treaty
Talking Points Memo reports: The Senate’s Republican leader came out Sunday against a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, warning Democrats not to rush through President Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy priority in the final days of the postelection Congress. Top Democrats still expressed confidence the Senate would ratify the accord by year’s end. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made no prediction about the treaty’s success or failure if it came to a vote, but he sai...

The 111th Congress, Looking Backward
By Patrick O'Connor The end of the year always yields new lists, and Senate Democrats just published a long one that tallies all the Legislation they approved over the last two years – often without help from Republicans. Everyone remembers the health overhaul, the stimulus and the Dodd-Frank financial-regulation overhaul. And Congress just approved measures repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on Gays in the Military and extended Bush-era Tax Cuts for two more years.

Richard Klass: Questions about Questions about New START
Listening to GOP Senators raise questions about the New START agreement raises some questions for them. ·Why does Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) complain that the treaty is being rushed when there will be more time on the Senate Floor than spent in total on START I, START II and the Moscow treaty (SORT)? ·Why did Sen. John Kyl (R-Az) say New START was acceptable if modernization was agreed and then reverse course? ·Is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) simply implementing his top pri

Democrats Get Closer on START
Senate Democrats "appear to have enough votes to overcome a Republican Filibuster on the new START arms-control treaty, though it's unclear if they will have the 67 votes needed for ratification," Politico reports. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans a Cloture vote on Tuesday with a final vote for ratification on Wednesday. However, the New York Times notes that the two top GOP leaders -- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) -- have both declared today "they would oppo...

Democrats Scramble for Votes to Ratify Arms Pact
Source: NY Times WASHINGTON — The top two Senate Republicans declared Sunday that they would vote against President Obama’s Nuclear Treaty with Russia as the Bipartisan spirit of last week’s tax-cut deal devolved into a sharp battle over National Security in the waning days of the session. With some prominent Republicans angry over passage of Legislation ending the ban on gay men and Lesbians serving openly in the Military, the mood in the Senate turned increasingly divisive and Mr. Obama an

Russia Warns Senate Not to Amend Arms Control Treaty
WASHINGTON — Russia warned the United States Senate on Monday not to rewrite the new Arms Control treaty being debated on Capitol Hill as American lawmakers clashed about the politics of ratification in the waning days of the Congressional session. Republican critics of the treaty, known as New Start, offered more amendments to the treaty’s language on verification and launcher limits. But any change to the treaty text would require both countries to return to the negotiating table,...

New START Treaty Is About Stopping Nuclear Terrorism
There are a whole host of reasons why Republican and Democratic presidents, past secretaries of state and defense, including Condi Rice and Colin Powell and Bill Cohen to name a few, have wholeheartedly endorsed the START Treaty. These include: reducing the number of Nuclear Weapons sitting in warehouses (the United States and Russia have 90 percent of them), moving forward to set an example to other nations to put the brakes on nuclear proliferation and, maybe most urgent, to seriously reduce...

Spending Bill Freezes Pay for Federal Workers
The latest on President Obama, the new Congress and other news from Washington and around the nation. Join the discussion. The bill would protect Student Pell grants, Veteran's benefits and a program that helps low-income families pay their heating bills. A Small Business loan program would be extended. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has scheduled a procedural vote on the bill for Tuesday morning. The Senate could pass it as early as Tuesday, sending it to the House, which delayed i...