Provisions in the House Armed Services Committee version of the Fiscal Year 2014 Defense Authorization Act that would hinder the Obama Administration’s ability to implement the New START Treaty or limit the President’s ability to pursue arms control talks with Russia are likely to draw a veto threat from the President, arms control experts said yesterday. Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Kingston Reif, the Director of Nuclear Non-Proliferation at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, noted that arms control limitations drafted by House Republicans the last two years have generated veto threats from the President and were eventually scaled back in negotiations with the Senate.
Reif suggested the Administration would take the most umbrage with provisions that would withhold approximately $70 million in FY 2014 for implementation of the New START Treaty and language that would prevent further nuclear reductions except those reached as part of a treaty. “You’re likely to see the Administration say that would infringe upon their constitutional power to decide the makeup of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and the Administration would be right to say that given that since the end of the Cold War both Republican and Democratic presidents have pursued different means, both unilateral means and reciprocal means and reductions by a treaty, to reduce the size of the U.S. arsenal,” Reif said.
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Executive Director John Isaacs said it was unlikely that the provisions would survive a veto threat, or negotiations with the Senate. “Ultimately a lot of these more controversial provisions will be dumped or severely weakened in Congress in order to get the bill through Congress and signed by the President,” Isaacs said.
