Tri-Valley CAREs Responds to U.S. Ratification of New START with Praise and
Cautionary Warning
Statement of Executive Director, Marylia Kelley: Today’s Senate vote to
ratify the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia is
proper and wise.
New START paves the way for modest reductions in the number of deployed,
strategic weapons in the U.S. and Russia.
Our two countries possess 95% of the world’s nuclear weapons. It is
necessary and fitting to take bilateral action, and Tri-Valley CAREs views
U.S. ratification as a small but significant step in the right direction.
It has long been discussed that Russian ratification would follow the U.S.
Now that New START has cleared that last U.S. hurdle and has become the law
of the land, we call on Russia to swiftly follow suit.
Today’s Senate vote, at its best, represents a victory for common sense
over political wrangling, and for that we thank Republicans and Democrats
alike. The vote was 71 to 26, with 11 Republicans voting for ratification.
Among New START’s merits are important verification measures, and we
welcome their prompt resumption. In sum, New START makes the U.S., Russia
and the world all a bit more safe and secure.
However, while we pop the corks on the champagne to celebrate this victory,
we must warn elected officials, the Administration and the public about the
dark and ominous cloud that hangs on the New START horizon, not because it
must, rather, solely because political deal-making sullied the process. In
truth, New START is such a modest step, its ratification should have been a
short, sweet and cloudless pursuit.
Instead, Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) became the ringleader for holding the
ratification vote on New START hostage to demands for future funding for
new U.S. nuclear weapons and the new bomb plants that will build them.
While Kyl’s efforts secured Administration promises to request future year
monies totaling $185 billion for so-called “modernization” of the weapons
complex and arsenal, this political “deal” is not itself part of the
treaty. Today’s ratification vote does not change the U.S. Constitution’s
mandate that the Congress shall appropriate funds on an annual basis.
Importantly, on a scientific and technical basis, there is no linkage
between New START and new bomb plants. Therefore, any action to build a new
plutonium bomb core factory at Los Alamos Lab, a new Uranium Processing
Facility at Y-12 and other new nuclear weapon design, testing and
production capabilities will jeopardize the nonproliferation and
disarmament benefits of New START and threaten the treaty’s global
effectiveness.
Tri-Valley CAREs vows to conduct a public and congressional education
campaign leading to curtailment of funds for “modernization” and
revitalization of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. Moreover, we note that
Jon Kyl, in the end, voted against the treaty!
Tri-Valley CAREs is a non-profit organization founded in 1983 and located
in Livermore, CA, in the shadow of the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, one of two U.S. nuclear warhead design locations. The group
represents 5,600 members, most of whom live near the Livermore Lab main
site or its nearby high explosives testing range.
###
