After wearing down Republican opposition in the last days of the 111th Congress, President Obama secured a major victory Wednesday with Senate adoption of a resolution to ratify the nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia.
Vice President Biden presided over the Senate’s 71-26 vote to approve one of the president’s signature foreign policy accomplishments as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat in attendance.
The White House lobbied furiously to win support from 11 REPUBLICANS who joined Democrats in a 67-28 procedural vote Tuesday to end debate on the pact and give Obama the two-thirds majority he needed for the final Senate vote on Wednesday that was supported by 13 REPUBLICANS.
“The administration did not negotiate a good treaty,” said John Kyl (R-AZ), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican leader. “They went into the negotiations it seems to me with the attitude with the Russians just like the guy who goes into the car dealership and says, `I’m not leaving here until I buy a car.”
This is a bad treaty for the United States. See the article written by Conn Carrol and posted here on December 21, 2010 entitled “The New START is a bad deal for the USA”.
Hang the ratification of this bad deal squarely on the shoulders of LIBERAL REPUBLICANS. These LIBERAL REPUBLICANS have chosen to ignore the success of diplomacy from strength. The Soviet Union fell because of the superiority of the US strategic arsenal and President Reagan’s resolve to maintain and extend our superiority. Through diplomacy from strength the Russian yoke of communism was lifted from Eastern Europe.
Check the list below to see if your senator voted for this bad deal for America.
| Alabama: | Sessions (R-AL), Nay | Shelby (R-AL), Nay |
| Alaska: | Begich (D-AK), Yea | Murkowski (R-AK), Yea |
| Arizona: | Kyl (R-AZ), Nay | McCain (R-AZ), Nay |
| Arkansas: | Lincoln (D-AR), Yea | Pryor (D-AR), Yea |
| California: | Boxer (D-CA), Yea | Feinstein (D-CA), Yea |
| Colorado: | Bennet (D-CO), Yea | Udall (D-CO), Yea |
| Connecticut: | Dodd (D-CT), Yea | Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea |
| Delaware: | Carper (D-DE), Yea | Coons (D-DE), Yea |
| Florida: | LeMieux (R-FL), Nay | Nelson (D-FL), Yea |
| Georgia: | Chambliss (R-GA), Nay | Isakson (R-GA), Yea |
| Hawaii: | Akaka (D-HI), Yea | Inouye (D-HI), Yea |
| Idaho: | Crapo (R-ID), Nay | Risch (R-ID), Nay |
| Illinois: | Durbin (D-IL), Yea | Kirk (R-IL), Nay |
| Indiana: | Bayh (D-IN), Yea | Lugar (R-IN), Yea |
| Iowa: | Grassley (R-IA), Nay | Harkin (D-IA), Yea |
| Kansas: | Brownback (R-KS), Not Voting | Roberts (R-KS), Nay |
| Kentucky: | Bunning (R-KY), Not Voting | McConnell (R-KY), Nay |
| Louisiana: | Landrieu (D-LA), Yea | Vitter (R-LA), Nay |
| Maine: | Collins (R-ME), Yea | Snowe (R-ME), Yea |
| Maryland: | Cardin (D-MD), Yea | Mikulski (D-MD), Yea |
| Massachusetts: | Brown (R-MA), Yea | Kerry (D-MA), Yea |
| Michigan: | Levin (D-MI), Yea | Stabenow (D-MI), Yea |
| Minnesota: | Franken (D-MN), Yea | Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea |
| Mississippi: | Cochran (R-MS), Yea | Wicker (R-MS), Nay |
| Missouri: | Bond (R-MO), Not Voting | McCaskill (D-MO), Yea |
| Montana: | Baucus (D-MT), Yea | Tester (D-MT), Yea |
| Nebraska: | Johanns (R-NE), Yea | Nelson (D-NE), Yea |
| Nevada: | Ensign (R-NV), Nay | Reid (D-NV), Yea |
| New Hampshire: | Gregg (R-NH), Yea | Shaheen (D-NH), Yea |
| New Jersey: | Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea | Menendez (D-NJ), Yea |
| New Mexico: | Bingaman (D-NM), Yea | Udall (D-NM), Yea |
| New York: | Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea | Schumer (D-NY), Yea |
| North Carolina: | Burr (R-NC), Nay | Hagan (D-NC), Yea |
| North Dakota: | Conrad (D-ND), Yea | Dorgan (D-ND), Yea |
| Ohio: | Brown (D-OH), Yea | Voinovich (R-OH), Yea |
| Oklahoma: | Coburn (R-OK), Nay | Inhofe (R-OK), Nay |
| Oregon: | Merkley (D-OR), Yea | Wyden (D-OR), Yea |
| Pennsylvania: | Casey (D-PA), Yea | Specter (D-PA), Yea |
| Rhode Island: | Reed (D-RI), Yea | Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea |
| South Carolina: | DeMint (R-SC), Nay | Graham (R-SC), Nay |
| South Dakota: | Johnson (D-SD), Yea | Thune (R-SD), Nay |
| Tennessee: | Alexander (R-TN), Yea | Corker (R-TN), Yea |
| Texas: | Cornyn (R-TX), Nay | Hutchison (R-TX), Nay |
| Utah: | Bennett (R-UT), Yea | Hatch (R-UT), Nay |
| Vermont: | Leahy (D-VT), Yea | Sanders (I-VT), Yea |
| Virginia: | Warner (D-VA), Yea | Webb (D-VA), Yea |
| Washington: | Cantwell (D-WA), Yea | Murray (D-WA), Yea |
| West Virginia: | Manchin (D-WV), Yea | Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea |
| Wisconsin: | Feingold (D-WI), Yea | Kohl (D-WI), Yea |
| Wyoming: | Barrasso (R-WY), Nay | Enzi (R-WY), Nay |
I think this is a good deal for America, and Russia.
Let’s see…..the Russians agree to not develop new systems which they cannot afford to accomplish anyway while the US agrees to destroy existing deterrent weapons and to forego missile defense. You’re half right!!! It’s a great deal……….for the Russians, but alas a country-weakening deal for the US.