Eight Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate on Wednesday urged President Donald Trump in a letter to extend the New START arms control treaty that limits the U.S. and Russia to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads.
New START went into effect in 2011. The Barack Obama administration proposed the treaty, which the then-Democrat-controlled Senate ratified with help from Republicans who signed on after the administration promised the U.S. would subsequently embark on a 30-year nuclear modernization and maintenance regime.
The treaty will lapse in 2021, but the U.S. and Russian presidents can extend it into February 2026. The Donald Trump administration has signaled that it prefers a multilateral nuclear arms control treaty that also includes China, but Beijing has flatly refused to negotiate such an arrangement.
Under those conditions, “[w]e believe that a decision to forego the benefits of New START by failing to extend the agreement would be a serious mistake for strategic stability and U.S. security, and urge you to negotiate the full extension of New START through 2026, as permitted by the Treaty,” the eight lawmakers wrote in a letter to Trump on congressional stationary.
The first two signatures on the letter were those of Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the ranking democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Also signing the letter were:
Reps. Adam Smith (D-Was.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), respectively, the chairs of the House Armed Services Committee, House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee, and House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) also signed the letter. They are respectively the chairs of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, and the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Challenging Trump’s preference for a new deal, the lawmakers wrote:
“If you believe a “better deal” than the New START Treaty is possible, we ask that the Administration provide details to Congress on what such an agreement might involve, why you believe Russia would agree to it, and why the Senate should ratify it.”
The signees asked Trump to respond by June 15.
