{"id":494597,"date":"2010-03-31T16:42:54","date_gmt":"2010-03-31T20:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/?p=81118"},"modified":"2010-03-31T16:42:54","modified_gmt":"2010-03-31T20:42:54","slug":"clinton-to-make-new-start-ratification-push-in-mcconnell%e2%80%99s-backyard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/494597","title":{"rendered":"Clinton to Make New START Ratification Push in McConnell\u2019s Backyard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/80608\/now-to-get-new-start-through-the-senate\">Friday statement that nuclear arms-reduction treaties typically command large bipartisan majorities<\/a> was a first nudge to get the Senate to ratify the New START accord with Russia, late next week will showcase a second and more direct push. Clinton&#8217;s aides are planning for her to make a speech urging ratification in Kentucky, the home state of the GOP Senate leader, Mitch McConnell.<span id=\"more-81118\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The details are still up in the air, but administration sources said Clinton would probably speak on Friday, April 9. That&#8217;s an auspicious day for arms control: the day before, Presidents Obama and Medvedev will sign the accord to reduce their nuclear stockpiles by 30 percent, and the following week will feature a 43- or 44-nation conference on nuclear security in Washington. The venue will probably the <a href=\"http:\/\/louisville.edu\/\">University of Louisville<\/a>, but that hasn&#8217;t been completely nailed down.<\/p>\n<p>It marks the first sign of an aggressive push for Clinton to get the treaty the seven GOP votes needed for ratification. (<a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/80954\/the-burning-new-start-question-how-many-votes-can-dick-lugar-command\">Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana has already lent New START his vote<\/a>.) McConnell is an unusual case: He didn&#8217;t cast a vote for or against the last nuclear weapons treaty in 2003. And he&#8217;s already sounded sour notes about New START over its linkage to missile defense and verification &#8212; the administration is adamant that the treaty doesn&#8217;t impact missile defense and <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/80715\/into-the-guts-of-new-start-how-to-get-from-here-to-zero\">its verification procedures are way tougher than those in the last couple treaties with the Russians<\/a> &#8212; subsequently raising questions about whether McConnell&#8217;s legislative strategy of omnibus obstruction doesn&#8217;t stop at the water&#8217;s edge. If McConnell ends up siding against the treaty, then he&#8217;ll be bucking history. At least the last two arms-reduction accords with Russia have passed with the support of the Senate minority leader, whether it was <a href=\"http:\/\/projects.washingtonpost.com\/congress\/108\/senate\/1\/votes\/43\/\">Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) in 2003<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/projects.washingtonpost.com\/congress\/102\/senate\/2\/votes\/253\/\">Bob Dole (R-Kans.) a decade earlier<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Administration officials have expressed confidence that they&#8217;ll get New START through the Senate once they start making the case for it on the merits. Clinton&#8217;s speech next week effectively represents the beginnings of that effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton&#8217;s Friday statement that nuclear arms-reduction treaties typically command large bipartisan majorities was a first nudge to get the Senate to ratify the New START accord with Russia, late next week will showcase a second and more direct push. Clinton&#8217;s aides are planning for her to make a speech [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4314"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}