Here’s an example of how NH is approaching the New Start ratification
May 20 – 27, 2010
Since October I have been directing an 8-month project for NH Peace Action in support of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). When it became clear that CTBT would not come up for a vote this year, we agreed to also focus on ratification of the new nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, which was signed April 8, and which is known as “New START.” I am writing now to ask you to take one more action before my time on this project is done at the end of this month.
This week the Senate Foreign Relations Committee opened hearings on the New START Treaty between the United States and Russia . New START is a critical step to reduce the global nuclear threat, prevent the further spread of nuclear weapons and make the world safer. The treaty will reduce each country’s deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1550 – a roughly 30% cut. The U.S. and Russia possess 95% of the world’s nuclear weapons. These weapons are a liability, not an asset. They don’t make the world safe or address today’s real threats to our security. New START sends a clear signal to the rest of the world that the U.S. and Russia are serious about reducing the nuclear threat.
New START has the support of disarmament advocates like Peace Action and AFSC, arms control supporters like the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Arms Control Association, and, in the words of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, “The New START Treaty has the unanimous support of America ‘s military leadership.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has already expressed support and is playing an important role as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
But to take effect, the treaty must be supported by at least two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 U.S. senators. That means the New START needs support from at least 8 Republicans, and a larger number would help us move toward more significant steps, like the CTBT.
Sen. Judd Gregg, who has a mixed record on arms control, has not yet expressed his opinion on New START.
During the week of action, please call or write Sen. Gregg to urge him to support New START.
To contact Sen. Judd Gregg:
Call: (202) 224-3324
Fax: 202 224-4952
Email: go to http://gregg.senate.gov/contact/
Write: 201 Russell Senate Office Bldg, Washington DC 20510
For additional background on New START, visit:
- FCNL – http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=3860&issue_id=2
- Arms Control Association – http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=3860&issue_id=2
- National Security Network – http://www.nsnetwork.org/node/1580
If you have already sent a message to Sen. Gregg, please consider a letter to the editor of you local paper, like the excellent one from Dwight Haynes in today’s Concord Monitor (see: www.concordmonitor.com/article/gregg-shaheen-should-back-start.)
And please send me copies of your messages to Gregg and your letters to the editor. I’d love to have them in my files when I turn them over to Will Hopkins on May 28.
Best wishes for a more peaceful world,
Arnie Alpert
ctbt@nhpeacection.org
