After doing little to elucidate his position on the New START Treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation during the past eight months, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) finally disclosed it by voting “NO” in the final vote for the treaty's ratification this afternoon. The treaty was ratified in a vote of (71-26).

The ratification vote occurred after every proposed amendment to the treaty was voted down and 67 Senators voted for cloture yesterday. In the final hours of debate, a unanimous consent agreement was reached between the proponents and opponents of the treaty to modify the resolution of ratification to accommodate Republican concerns about modernization of the nuclear complex and other issues.

Yesterday, Global Security Newswire reported, “the Russian State Duma could vote before 2011 to ratify a new nuclear arms control treaty with the United States if the U.S. Senate endorses the pact.”

There has been discussion by the corporate media that there was a “collapse” of Republican support for the treaty. (See Rich Lowry's article in the National Review). What is closer to the truth is that the Republican Senate caucus played their cards close to the vest as Blog for Iowa has previously written (See Josh Rogan's article in The Cable).

~Paul Deaton is a
native Iowan living in rural Johnson County and weekend editor of
Blog for Iowa. E-mail
Paul Deaton