US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday said that she is confident the administration of US President Barack Obama will win enough Republican votes in the Senate to ratify a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Richard Lugar of Indiana is the only Senate Republican so far to publicly express his support for the treaty, known as "New START," but Clinton said she feels that other Republican lawmakers will also follow suit. Speaking to reporters at the State Department, Clinton argued that US national security is at risk if the Senate does not ratify the New START treaty signed in April by Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, calling the ratification an urgent matter. Faced with overwhelming criticism by Republican lawmakers over the treaty and their demands for more information, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee put off a vote until mid-September. The committee must approve the treaty before the Senate could ratify it by the required two-thirds majority of 67 votes. That would require support from at least eight Republicans. Clinton said that the decision last week by the committee chairman, Senator John Kerry, (Democrat from Massachusetts), to delay the vote was a gesture of good faith that underscores the push for bipartisan support. "But when the Senate returns they must act, because our national security is at risk," Clinton said. "There is an urgency to ratify this treaty because we currently lack verification measures with Russia, which only hurts our national security interests. Our ability to know and understand changes in Russia's nuclear arsenal will erode without the treaty."
