Arms Treaty Clears Key Hurdle in Senate on 67-28 Vote

The Senate voted 67 to 28 to advance a new arms
control treaty that would pare back American and Russian
nuclear arsenals, reaching the two-thirds margin needed for
approval despite a concerted Republican effort to block
ratification.

Eleven Republicans joined every Democrat present to support
the treaty, known as New Start, which now heads to a
seemingly certain final vote on Wednesday, as the Senate
wraps up business before heading out of town. Voting against
the treaty were 28 Republicans who argued that it could hurt
national security.

"Today's bipartisan vote clears a significant hurdle in the
Senate," said Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the
Democratic chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee who
led the floor fight. "We are on the brink of writing the next
chapter in the 40-year history of wrestling with the threat
of nuclear weapons."