Senators Needed for New Start

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is preparing to vote on ratifying the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia. Some senators on the committee have not yet made up their mind on this issue. Use FCNL's action alert to see if your senator is on the committee by typing in your zip code.

If your senator is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, let them know what constituents think! Email your senator today and ask her or him to ratify the new START treaty. Ask five friends in your state to write the senator as well.

President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the new START treaty on April 8. Ratification requires approval first of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and then the support of at least 67 senators on the floor. The New START treaty reduces the limit on nuclear warheads by 30 percent, to 1,550 warheads each. It also reinstates the inspection and verification regime that has been discontinued since the previous START treaty expired in December.

Numerous foreign policy and defense experts from both sides of the political spectrum have come forward in support of the New START treaty.

Nonproliferation experts involved in previous treaties have stated that a failure to ratify this treaty would undo over three decades of nuclear disarmament agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in May, Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor to President Nixon and Secretary of State to Presidents Nixon and Ford, said, "I recommend ratification of this treaty... this committee's decision will affect the prospects for peace for a decade or more. It is, by definition, not a bipartisan, but a nonpartisan, challenge."

• Please write to your senator today.


• Find out more about the New START Treaty on the FCNL website.