US Senate Ratifies New START with Russia, Georgia WAND Celebrates
As previously reported by APN, Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions had lobbied US Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) to support the new START Treaty between the US and Russia. Isakson supported the bill in Cmte, spoke eloquently in support of the bill on the US Senate floor, and supported its ratification by the US Senate.
71 Senators voted yea; 26 voted nay. The 71 yeays included 13 Republicans: US Sens. Alexander (R-TN), Bennett (R-UT), Brown (R-MA), Cochran (R-MS), Collins (R-ME), Corker (R-TN), Gregg (R-NH), Isakson (R-GA), Lugar (R-IN), Murkowski (R-AK), Snowe (R-ME), an Voinovich (R-OH).
The entire Democratic Caucus voted yea. Georgia’s US Sen. Chambliss voted nay.
Several Republicans also joined in the cloture vote.
“We applaud Senator Johnny Isakson for his intelligent and careful consideration of New START,” Bobbie Paul, Executive Director, Georgia WAND said. “His vote on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and his vote on the Senate floor today have come after intense study of the treaty and meetings with both grassroots individuals as well as past and present top military and national security officials. Today, Johnny Isakson stood on the right side of history.”
“The grassroots effort in Georgia, fueled by enthusiastic activists, was unwavering. Our Senators understood the passion ignited by the threat of nuclear weapons. This victory on New START gives us hope that a bi-partisanship approach to serious issues can overcome partisan political games.” Paul said.
“A delegation of 55 Georgia legislators signed letters to Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss in support of New START. Defying the conventional wisdom that national issues are not state issues, these legislators seized the opportunity to speak up on a security issue that affects us all,” State Sen. Nan Grogan Orrock (D-Atlanta), President of the Women Legislators’ Lobby, a WAND program said.
New START is an extension of the original START treaty, first ratified in 1992 in the US Senate during the presidency of George H.W. Bush with an overwhelming 93-6 vote. With the original START treaty’s expiration on December 5, 2009, the U.S. has been unable conduct on-site inspections of Russian for over a year. During that time, not a single U.S. nuclear inspection has taken place in Russia.