Stalling on START

Writing in Foreign Policy, Josh Rogin examines the repercussions of delaying the Senate Relations Committee vote on the New START:

Committee chairman John Kerry, D-MA, told committee members at Tuesday’s business meeting that even though the committee could have approved the treaty, allowing it to go to the full Senate, he felt it better to take the time to build more consensus before requiring senators to stake out their positions.

But ranking member Richard Lugar, R-IN, warned that if the treaty stalls, it might be hard to build up momentum again. He also said he had argued internally for holding the committee vote this week to allow Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, to go ahead and reserve precious Senate floor time for treaty consideration in September.

If the committee doesn’t vote until September, it’s “problematic” to try to get floor time before the next break, Lugar said, meaning that the December “lame duck” post-election session would be where the treaty would get a full Senate debate.

“If not [before the election], then whether it works out in December or not is no longer a matter of parliamentary debate, it’s a matter of national security,” he said, citing the fact that U.S. inspectors have not been able to verify Russian behavior regarding nuclear weapons deployment since the original START agreement expired late last year. “We ought to vote now and let the chips fall where they may. It’s that important.”