(KUNA) -- US President Barack Obama expressed on Thursday confidence that the new START treaty with Russia will pass in Congress calling this step as "a national security imperative". "I am confident that we should be able to get the votes. Keep in mind that every president since Ronald Reagan has presented an arms treaty with Russia and been able to get ratification," said Obama in remarks at the White House.Since it's going to be Groundhog Day again tomorrow this one will certainly be passed, too.
"The majority of them have passed overwhelmingly, with bipartisan support. There has no reason that we should not be able to get that done this time as well," he affirmed.
"Bi-partisan" = "Blame came be shared all around"
After dozen of hearings and deliberations, the treaty was approved by the Senate foreign relations committee by 14 votes to 4 and awaits the general vote of 67 Senators to be ratified.
"It is a national security imperative that the United States ratify the new START treaty this year. There is no higher national security priority for the lame-duck session of Congress," said Obama. "The stakes for American national security are clear, and they are high. The new START treaty responsibly reduces the number of nuclear weapons and launchers that the United States and Russia deploy while fully maintaining America's nuclear deterrent," he added. The New START treaty was signed between Obama and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev in Prague last April, but congressional ratification is still pending.
Obama noted that "if we ratify this treaty, we are going to have a verification regime in place to track Russia's strategic nuclear weapons, including U.S. inspectors on the ground." "If we do not, then we do not have a verification regime. No inspectors, no insights into Russia's strategic arsenal, no framework for cooperation between the world's two nuclear superpowers," he added.
Obama described the treaty as "a cornerstone of our relations with Russia, and this goes beyond nuclear security. Russia's been fundamental to our efforts to put strong sanctions in place to put pressure on Iran to deal with its nuclear program". "It has been critical in supporting our troops in Afghanistan through the northern distribution network. It has been critical in working with us to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world and to enhance European security", he added.
Obama's remarks came as he dropped by a meeting hosted by Vice President Joe Biden dedicated to the discussion of the START treaty with former secretaries of defense and state.
The US leader affirmed that "we cannot afford to gamble on our ability to verify Russia's strategic nuclear arms, and we cannot jeopardize the progress that we have made in securing vulnerable nuclear materials or in maintaining a strong sanctions regime against Iran. These are all national interests of the highest order". He further noted that the new START "is completely in line with a tradition of bipartisan cooperation on this issue. This is not a Democratic concept; this is not a Republican concept. But this is a concept of American national security".
Some Republican senators, mainly Jon Kyl who is negotiating with the White House, have hinted that the treaty could not pass before next year when the new Congress takes over and they have been asking for more allocation of money for modernizing US nuclear arsenal and to remove any Russian precondition on deploying US missile defense systems. Obama assured that his administration is prepared "to go the extra mile to ensure that our remaining stockpile and nuclear infrastructure is modernized, which is a key concern of many around this table and also many on Capitol Hill".
"This is not a matter that can be delayed. Every month that goes by without a treaty means that we are not able to verify what is going on the ground in Russia. And if we delay indefinitely, American leadership on nonproliferation and America's national security will be weakened," he concluded.