For decades, American inspectors have monitored Russian nuclear forces, putting into practice President Ronald Reagan's favorite maxim, "Trust, but verify." But since the old START Treaty expired last December, we have relied on trust alone. Until a new treaty comes into force, our inspectors will not have access to Russian missile silos and the world's two largest nuclear arsenals will lack the stability that comes with a rigorous inspection regime. WaPoThe republicans' beef, per Lindsey Graham who was on This Week Sunday, is that they want the ability to "modernize" our nuclear arsenal. I'm sure there is a Halliburton of the nuclear arsenal world waiting in the wings for its payday. Heck, maybe it is Halliburton.
By voting in more republicans, we also voted for more war, more neanderthal thinking on foreign policy. But for some strange reason, Americans believe the government can create jobs and when the government created it's own jobs, everyone got mad. Yes, I'm bitter.
Update: to get the treaty done, and this ought to do it, Obama offers $4 billion extra for the nuclear arsenal:
The administration is scrambling to get enough Republican support in the Senate to ratify the New START treaty before the Democrats' majority shrinks by six in January. In a sign of the urgency of the administration's pitch, government officials traveled to Kyl's home state of Arizona to brief him on the proposal, the aide said. Officials also briefed Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee.
"This is a huge increase," said Daryl Kimball, head of the private Arms Control Association. He noted that it is not certain that Congress will approve the funding, which will in any case have to be appropriated over time for each of the years in the proposal.
The aide said that the administration has also conveyed to Republican lawmakers that its offer is contingent on passing the treaty before the end of the year and that Democratic support for the increased funding would likely evaporate, if the treaty stalls.msnbc
