Americas

Home page

Americas

Obama tries to assuage Republican concern over missile defense limit

19 December 2010 00:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. In his continued push for the passage in the Senate this year of the arms treaty he signed with Russia, U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday told Senate leaders that the treaty places no limitations on the development or deployment of U.S. missile defense programs, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

"The new START treaty places no limitations on the development or deployment of our missile defense programs," Obama said in a letter to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and majority leader Harry Reid. "As long as I am president, and as long as the Congress provides the necessary funding, the United States will continue to develop and deploy effective missile defenses to protect the United States, our deployed forces and our allies and partners."

Leading Republican senators alleged that the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which has been debated in the Senate since Wednesday, could limit U.S. efforts to develop its missile defense system, though the language in the treaty’s preamble is not legally binding. Senator John McCain and others were sponsoring a resolution to strip language on missile defense from the preamble, which would mean killing of the treaty.

However, such a resolution needs 51 votes to pass, while the Republicans hold only 42 seats in the 100-member Senate, pointing to a sure failure.

In his weekly address on Saturday, Obama again argued for quick Senate approval of the new START treaty he signed in April with Russia President Dmitry Medevedev, stressing that "ratifying a treaty like START isn’t about winning a victory for an administration or a political party, it’s about the safety and security of the United States of America."

The pact would limit each country’s strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, down from the current ceiling of 2,200, and establish a system for monitoring and verification. U.S. weapons inspections ended a year ago with the expiration of the 1991 arms control treaty.

"Every minute we drag our feet is a minute that we have no inspectors on the ground at those Russian nuclear sites," Obama said. "It’s time to get this done."

Obama has put off his scheduled departure on Saturday for Honolulu, Hawaii, for vacation in order to guide the treaty through the Senate before the holiday break.