GOP Support Grows Ahead of START Vote

Scott Brown is on board; Corker, Gregg likely
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 21, 2010 7:11 AM CST
Updated Dec 21, 2010 7:56 AM CST
GOP Support Grows Ahead of START Vote
Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., speaks to the media after an unusual closed Senate session in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington Monday, Dec. 20, 2010.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Things were looking bleak yesterday for the New START arms treaty—but that was yesterday. Following a closed-door meeting, GOP Sen. Scott Brown said he’d vote for the treaty and two other Republicans said they would likely support it, giving supporters enough votes to push it through as voting begins today. Meanwhile, John McCain put forward an amendment to accompanying legislation that could soothe START’s opponents.

Republican amendments were voted down yesterday by margins approaching the figure needed for approval of the treaty. Joint Chiefs chairman Mike Mullen pushed for ratification in a letter to the Senate, calling the treaty “vital” to security. And Russia, for its part, yesterday told the US the treaty “cannot be opened up and become the subject of new negotiations;” McCain’s amendment wouldn’t call for such a move.
(More Senate stories.)

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