Senate Democrats appear to have the nine Republican votes they need to ratify the New START nuclear treaty this week and give President Obama his third major victory of the lame-duck session.
Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) told reporters Monday afternoon that he would vote to ratify the treaty and also support a motion to end debate, which the Senate will consider Tuesday.
“I believe it’s something that’s important for our country and I believe it’s a good move forward,” Brown said after emerging from a classified briefing in the Old Senate Chamber.
He was the ninth Republican senator to announce publicly that he would vote to ratify or is leaning strongly in favor of doing so. All 58 members of the Democratic conference — including two independents, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Joe Lieberman (Conn.) — support it.
“I believe we have the votes to pass this treaty,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) said after the briefing.
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, became the 10th Republican to back the treaty on Monday evening.
Senate ratification requires 67 votes or the support of two-thirds of the senators present in the chamber, assuming there is a quorum.
GOP senators — including those who plan to vote for the treaty and those who say they’ll oppose it — have told The Hill they expect the resolution of ratification to pass easily.
Two other GOP senators announced Monday afternoon they are likely to support the treaty.
* “I’m leaning toward supporting the treaty but I want to makes sure our side gets a fair hearing,” Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.) said.
* Said Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio: “I support it.”
* Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), a Republican member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he is also likely to vote for the treaty if the Obama administration answers some more questions about it and Democratic leaders allow additional Republican amendments to receive votes.
* Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) said a recent letter from Obama reassured him enough to vote for ratification.
Obama sent a letter to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) over the weekend assuring him that the treaty would not prevent his administration from moving forward with missile defense systems.
“It takes care of me,” Bennett told the Associated Press.
* The two Republican senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, have already announced they would vote for New START in the lame-duck session.
Sen. Dick Lugar (Ind.), ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is an outspoken supporter who has worked for months to corral GOP votes. He has predicted for several days that the treaty will win ratification.
* Senate Democrats are also eyeing a pool of Republican senators who could give them additional votes.
–Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
–Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)
–Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
NOTE: All GOP amendments were voted DOWN & these Yahoo RINOS, the GOP etal (bar 35) will put it through. Damn strong Dictator Obama. Damn sellouts! And they say the Dims learned nothing from the election! ~JP
This story was updated at 6:47 p.m. By Alexander Bolton The Hill
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