ANA APPLAUDS START TREATY SIGNING; WARNS INCREASED WEAPONS SPENDING WON'T WIN RATIFICATION > Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

ANA APPLAUDS START TREATY SIGNING; WARNS INCREASED WEAPONS SPENDING WON'T WIN RATIFICATION

published Thursday, April 08, 2010

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for further information, contact:
Nickolas Roth 914-673-6666
Susan Gordon 505-473-1670

for immediate release: April 7, 2010

ANA APPLAUDS START TREATY SIGNING; WARNS INCREASED WEAPONS SPENDING WON'T WIN RATIFICATION

Today’s signing of new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) by President Barack Obama and Russian President Medvedev is a significant achievement in reducing threats posed by nuclear weapons and should be followed by timely U.S. Senate ratification, according to the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA).

“Senate Democrats should not, however, be lured into thinking that large investments in nuclear weapons will get them the Republican votes needed to ratify this treaty,” said ANA Program Director Nick Roth. “This treaty should be ratified on its own merits, not on a deal that involves more money for nuclear weapons.”

Last December, 40 Republicans Senators, enough to defeat any resolution to ratify a treaty, sent a letter to the President demanding large increases in nuclear weapons spending before they would support the New START agreement. Among the list of demands were replacing the entire arsenal with new nuclear weapons and a series of new warhead production facilities.

Since the Republicans sent their letter, the Obama administration has proposed the largest-ever budget for nuclear weapons. It includes money for expanding nuclear weapons production capacity in the form of new weapons facilities and a study that explores significant modifications to current warheads. There is still no indication that Republican Senators will support the Administration’s arms control agenda. Earlier this week, Senators Kyl and McCain released a statement saying that current funding levels for nuclear weapons were still “woefully inadequate.”

“These new investments in nuclear weapons are expensive and unnecessary. More importantly they undermine the intent of the New START treaty, which is to demonstrate U.S. leadership in moving towards a nuclear weapons free world,” said Susan Gordon, Director of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability.

The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability is a national network of three-dozen grassroots and national groups representing the concerns of communities near U.S. nuclear weapons sites that are directly affected by 65 years of nuclear weapons production and waste contamination.

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