DeMint Drops Bid to Delay Action on New START

[WestVirginiaRebel]

National Journal:

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., backed off threats today to force a reading of the New START arms-reduction treaty after the White House assailed the delay tactic as a “new low.”

Senate leaders had estimated that a full reading of the accord could take 15 hours, which would have thrown a wrench into ambitious plans to finish work on New START, an omnibus spending bill, and several other pieces of legislation before the Senate adjourns for the year.

With a big agenda and time running down in the lame-duck session, a full reading of the text could have delayed approval of the treaty and possibly forced it into the next legislative session, where it could face more Republican opposition.

Republicans were expected to force the reading after the Senate voted this afternoon, 66-32, to go into executive session to consider the treaty. But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said after the vote that a full reading of the treaty “is not essential.”

The Senate is expected to remain in morning business for the rest of the day, with speeches expected on the treaty. The chamber will formally return to the treaty Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said.

DeMint said earlier today he wanted to force a reading of the treaty “on behalf of a lot of Republicans,” amid concerns that the Senate will not provide enough time for debate on the arms-reduction accord.

“Even supporters of the treaty don’t think they need to jam a major arms agreement through right up against Christmas,” DeMint said, adding that he does not believe the treaty is being treated as the weighty issue it is.

Republicans, he said, are “signing up to watch the floor all night long, if we need to.”
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Who's this "We" he keeps talking about? Whatever you might think about the treaty, DeMint seems to be grandstanding here.

[Sabre86]

And now FReakers have declared him a RINO and think he should be targeted during "CW2."

[ErnstBlofeld]

There are many holes with this treaty which Republican senators should consider before voting. The Russians have been modernizing their nuclear weapons.They removing their older SS-18 missiles and replacing them with their more accurate SS-27 missiles.Every treaty we have signed with the Russians they have cheated. During the SALT I and SALT II treaty era,four new types of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, five improved versions of existing SLBMs,and four types of intercontinental ballistic missiles(the SS-17,18,19, and 25)were introduced that were in direct violation of the treaties.SALT II was the foundation of the U.S. "second missile gap," which arose in the early 1980s and was one of the main reasons for Ronald Reagan's strategic armament buildup.