CQ reporter Josh Rogin reports on Obama’s agreement with the Russians on new cuts to the nation’s nuclear arsenal — cuts that face considerable opposition in the Senate and for which the president might not be able to muster the necessary two-thirds super majority required for ratification:
“It doesn’t have to be ratified by December for the president to say that we’re going to live by the law,” said John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The United States adheres informally to several treaties the Senate has never ratified, including the Law of the Sea Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Kerry noted, adding, “It’s better to ratify it, and we will try to do what we can.” If the Senate cannot ratify the START follow-on treaty, the Obama administration might have to implement new nuclear arms reductions without congressional consent and without the force of law. But the lack of ratification poses problems for the drive to establish a new arms regime both at home and abroad. Foreign Relations ranking Republican Richard G. Lugar of Indiana said it might be possible to extend the current START agreement if the Senate and the Russian Duma can’t ratify a new treaty by the December deadline. “It’s possible, but not necessarily acceptable” to implement arms reductions without Senate ratification, said Lugar, who supports having a full debate over the issue in Congress.
In other news, the very same CQ reporter was hit by a taxicab while walking the dangerous streets of the District not long ago. FishBowlDC has a photograph of Rogin with a cast signed by more than 30 senators and talking about his plan to get at least 60. The only holdout so far is Jim Bunning, but Bunning charges for autographs — a violation of Senate ethics rules that Bunning circumvents by giving the money to a foundation from which he then drew a $155,000
a year
