Signed on April 8, 2010 by President Obama and Russian President Medvedev, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) aims to reduce the nuclear weapons arsenals of the United States and Russia. The new treaty will cut the number of strategic nuclear weapons by 30% and reestablish essential verification measures to renew transparency between the world’s largest nuclear powers. Together, the U.S. and Russia possess more than 95% of all nuclear weapons.
As the Senate was on the verge of wrapping up the work of 2010 before the holiday break, it voted in favor of the New START nuclear weapons reductions treaty. The ratification of New START was the biggest foreign policy victory for the Obama administration and the first major treaty passed in the Senate in almost a decade. The last time the Senate passed a treaty was more than a decade ago, with the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997.
Citizens for Global Solutions work both through its grassroots organizing as well as advocacy on Capitol Hill to support the ratification of New START. Due to an outpouring of grassroots support -- a November poll noted that 82 percent of Americans supported ratification -- one by one Republican Senators announced their support for the treaty. In the end, enough Senators came together in agreement about the importance of our national security and safety.
Last April the U.S. and Russia signed the new START Treaty, but for the Treaty to enter into force it must be ratified by both countries, which means that two-thirds of the Senate must vote in favor of the Treaty. Send a message to your Senators today.
