New START Floor Debate: ACA Rebuttal to Kyl's 14 Points

By Tom Z. Collina and Daryl G. Kimball

On Thursday, Dec. 16, Minority Whip Jon Kyl made 14 points on the Senate floor against ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). None of Sen. Kyl's concerns are new; all have been previously addressed by the administration and the Foreign Relations Committee's Sept. 16 bipartisan resolution of advice and consent.

Sen. Kyl's 14 points and ACA's rebuttals are below.

Day 3 of Senate debate on New START: skeptics' arguments confused and contradictory

by Daryl G. Kimball

Earlier today, Senator Kyl (R-Ariz.) erroneously claimed on the floor of the Senate that New START's verification system is weaker than the system of the 1991 START treaty.

Such superficial comparisons miss the point and twist the facts. The 1991 START was negotiated in a different time and established different limits on strategic nuclear weapons, and its verification system was different from the more modern New START.

Conflicting Messages: The Arms Trade Treaty and Export Control Reform

A recognized global leader in both arms trade and export control, the United States has committed to seeking a robust international arms trade treaty. Washington is undertaking this effort in part to raise global norms for the trade in conventional weapons. At the same time, the administration is moving forward with a comprehensive review of its own export control system that may lower U.S. standards. It's difficult to advocate for states to raise their own practices while appearing to weaken one's own.

An Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to Bring the World Up

New START Proponents Urge Senate Democratic Leadership to Begin Treaty Debate Immediately

By Daryl G. Kimball

Leaders of key organizations working to sustain momentum for approval of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty wrote the Senate Democratic leadership earlier this evening demanding that the Senate immediately turn its attention to the treaty.

This call is being backed up by a substantial, nationwide grassroots and Washington-based lobbying effort.