Leaders Urge Senate to Ratify New START Before Year's End Posted by Kelsey Hartigan

Yesterday, more than 30 leading civil, scientific and religious leaders sent a letter to Sens. Harry Reid, Richard Durbin and Charles Schumer urging them to move New START forward before the end of the year. 

“Failure to act on the New START treaty this year would undermine the country’s national security interests, as both our military leadership and numerous former Republican officials have noted.”

The 111th Congress has held 18 hearings, dozens of briefings and meetings, and received answers to over 900 questions for the record.  New START has been thoroughly vetted and it is time for the Senate to vote. 
 
“We urge you to take up and approve New START now, if need be by extending the Senate in session beyond December 17.”

A group of 15 former senior military officers also sent a letter to senators yesterday, saying, “The Senate must move decisively to ratify the New START treaty before the end of 2010. For the sake of America’s global leadership role and future security, we cannot afford to delay.”

Leaders of the business community further encouraged the Senate to ratify New START before the end of the year.  Klaus Kleinfeld, the CEO of Alcoa, wrote yesterday in Forbes, “The new START agreement is more than just an important arms control treaty. It is the foundation of the U.S.-Russia "reset," which has provided new avenues for U.S. economic growth by deepening and expanding commercial ties with Russia. This is especially important now, when the U.S. economy is hurting, as Russia has vast natural resources and a large market. For that reason, the U.S.-Russia Business Council, which I chair, has urged the Senate to ratify START before the end of the year.”

The letter that the U.S.-Russia Business Council sent to Sen. Kyl in November is available here.


Full letter to Reid, Durbin and Schumer is after the jump:

December 9, 2010

The Honorable Harry Reid
The Honorable Richard Durbin
The Honorable Charles Schumer
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators Reid, Durbin and Schumer:
 
Failure to act on the New START treaty this year would undermine the country’s national security interests, as both our military leadership and numerous former Republican officials have noted.
 
Failure to bring New START to the floor will also squander the significant momentum that has built up in support of the treaty. There is now widespread bipartisan support for New START in the Senate, making it imperative that a floor vote happen before the Senate goes out of session.
 
Any issue that is left uncompleted during the next month will drag long into 2011; a new Senate takes months to get organized. The new make up of the Senate also promises to complicate ratification, potentially requiring new, more costly negotiations.
 
If New START is permitted to lag into next year, the U.S. will continue to lack an essential window into the makeup of Russia’s nuclear arsenal that it hasn’t had since START I expired last December.  As Gen. Kevin Chilton, the commander of STRATCOM, stated June 16: “If we don’t get the treaty, [the Russians] are not constrained in their development of force structure and…we have no insight into what they’re doing. So it’s the worst of both possible worlds.” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also warned that failure to ratify the treaty now could harm US-Russian relations. Indeed, failure to ratify New START now could undercut US efforts to contain Iran.
 
The treaty is supported unanimously by the nation’s military and intelligence leadership and most prominent former senior national security officials from Republican as well as Democratic administrations.  They support it because it will make the U.S. safer.
 
We urge you to take up and approve New START now, if need be by extending the Senate in session beyond December 17.
 
Sincerely,

Frances Beinecke, President
Natural Resources Defense Council

Jay Coghlan, Executive Director
Nuclear Watch New Mexico

Shan Cretin, General Secretary
American Friends Service Committee

Charles D. Ferguson
President, Federation of American Scientists

Ambassador James Goodby
Hoover Institution

Susan Gordon, Director
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr, Chairman
Bipartisan Security Group

Jonathan Granoff, President
Global Security Institute

Ambassador Robert Grey
Former US Representative to the Conference on Disarmament

Ken Gude, Director of National Security
Center for American Progress

Howard W. Hallman, Chair
Methodists United for Peace with Justice

Katie Heald, Coordinator
Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World

Heather Hurlburt, Executive Director
National Security Network 

Paul Ingram, Executive Director
British American Security Information Council

Kevin Kamps, Project Director
Beyond Nuclear

Marylia Kelley, Executive Director
Tri-Valley CAREs, Livermore

Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director,
Arms Control Association

Rachel Kleinfeld, Chief Executive Officer
Truman National Security Project

Kevin Knobloch, President
Union of Concerned Scientists

Don Kraus, Chief Executive Officer
Citizens for Global Solutions

David Krieger, President
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

Ira Lechner, Chairman
Council for a Livable World

Jan Lodal
Former Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense

Elisabeth MacNamara, President
League of Women Voters of the U.S.

Kevin Martin, Executive Director
Peace Action

Rabbi David Saperstein, Director and Counsel
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Susan Shaer, Executive Director
WAND, Women's Action for New Directions

Karen Showalter, Executive Director
Americans for Informed Democracy

Joe Volk, Executive Secretary
Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers)

Paul F. Walker, Ph.D., Director, Security and Sustainability
Global Green USA

Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, Director
Two Futures Project

Peter Wilk, Executive Director
Physicians for Social Responsibility

James E. Winkler, General Secretary
United Methodist General Board of Church and Society

Comments

[Nancy Brandt]

We need to be both a responsible world citizen and a leader. Don't miss this opportunity to do both.

[John W and Sherry L Goodspeed]

Expedite passage.

[Robert Jellison]

A delay in your Christmas vacation is a small price to pay for ratification of this essential treaty!

[Beverly Smith]

This is far TOO IMPORTANT to put off any longer. PLEASE help President Obama in what he has achieved with START at this point!!!!!

[Jacqueline Holmes]

Senator Reid,

It is imperitive that the Smart Treaty be signed this year and it must be taken to the floor if the Senate for a vote. Do it now

sSncerely,

Jacqueline Holmes

[David Ullian]

Lets pass START NOW

[E Grignon]

It is time to pass START!!!!

[Winfield Coleman]

Senator Reid:

No more delays! Pass the SALT treaty now. If necessary, delay the Senate recess.

[Joel Trupin]

Senator Reid,

It is imperitive that the Smart Treaty be signed this year and it must be taken to the floor of the Senate for a vote. Do it now, please.

Sincerely,

Joel Trupin

[Mary Ross]

Why is it necessary to have to write letters for you to do the right thing??? Politics aside, get this passed NOW!