Waging Peace

Some issues are too important for partisanship!




Get Our Nuclear Arms Inspectors Back on the Ground in Russia

The original Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) between the U.S. and Russia expired on December 5, 2009. For nearly one year, there has been no monitoring of Russian nuclear activities or stockpile. To remedy this, President Obama and Russian President Medvedev negotiated the New START agreement, which was signed in April 2010. Currently, two key members of the Senate, Sen. McConnell of Kentucky and Sen. Kyl of Arizona, are preventing the New START agreement from coming before the full Senate for ratification.

In a statement released on November 17, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “It is vitally important to America’s national security for the Senate to ratify the new START treaty before Congress adjourns this year. We need our inspectors back on the ground and the critical information they can provide about Russia’s nuclear capabilities. Ratification of this treaty would accomplish both.”

The New START agreement is about more than bringing down strategic nuclear arsenals on each side to 1,550. It is also about building cooperation and showing the world that we are taking steps toward fulfilling our disarmament obligations. It will allow an important component of Ronald Reagan’s philosophy on nuclear arms reduction to continue: “Trust, but verify.”

Write to your Senators today and ask them to pressure Senators McConnell (R-KY) and Kyl (R-AZ) to allow the New START agreement to come before the full Senate for ratification.

While New START may not be a perfect treaty, the consequences of a failure to ratify would be a severe setback to global nuclear disarmament. The treaty has strong support from the U.S. military and a recent poll shows that nearly three-fourths of Americans want to see it ratified.

Please take a moment to write your Senators today and tell them to do what is needed to ratify this treaty now.