Obama lobbies Republican senators to back arms pact

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama tried to sway reluctant Republican senators Monday to back a new arms control treaty with Russia as GOP aversion to giving a politically damaged president another victory intruded on his national security agenda.

The White House and senior Democrats expressed confidence that they had the votes for the accord that was signed by Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April. The two countries negotiated the New START pact to cap nuclear weapons and restart weapons inspections in the spirit of U.S. efforts to reset the relationship between the former Cold War foes.

Obama, who delayed his holiday vacation, lobbied senators by phone as he pressed to complete the treaty before January when Republicans increase their numbers by five in the Senate, casting the accord's fate in doubt. Bolstering his argument for quick action, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a letter to congressional leaders reiterating support for the accord.

"This treaty enhances our ability to do that which we in the military have been charged to do: Protect and defend the citizens of the United States. I am confident in its success as I am in its safeguards. The sooner it is ratified, the better," Mullen wrote.

Senior Democrats pushed toward a decisive vote on Tuesday to cut off debate and set the stage for a final vote later in the week. A top Democrat announced the backing of one key Republican -- longtime Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran -- but acknowledged that getting to the necessary two-thirds vote the Constitution requires for ratification would be far from easy.

"It's going to be a real slog, house by house combat if you will," Sen. Charlie Schumer, D-N.Y., told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday. "But I think we'll be there."

Obama suffered a self-described "shellacking" in the Nov. 2 midterm elections as his party lost control of the House and suffered an erosion in its Senate majority. Yet he has scored two major political wins in Congress' postelection session -- overwhelming bipartisan passage of the tax deal he cut with Republicans and repeal of the ban on openly gay members serving in the military.

His top foreign policy priority before the year's end is ratification of the treaty.

Politics coursed through the debate on Monday as Republicans were still peeved by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's decision to interrupt the six days of treaty consideration for votes on the gay ban and an unsuccessful immigration measure, legislation they considered a sop to the Democratic Party's liberal base.

"No senator should be forced to make decisions like this so we can tick off another item on someone's political check list before the end of the year," said Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has said he would oppose the treaty.

McConnell contended the Senate has not had enough time to debate the accord. He also has criticized the treaty's verification system and expressed concern that the pact would limit U.S. missile defense options even though Obama insisted in a letter that the treaty imposes no restrictions on the system to protect the U.S. and its allies.

Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry bemoaned the politics atypical for arms control treaties.

"When the leader comes to the floor and says that our national security is being driven by politics, we really need to step back for a moment and calm down and think for a moment about what is at stake," Massachusetts Democrat said.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Republican lawmakers had legitimate concerns, but "we believe that we've answered those concerns." So at this point, he said, objections "are more about politics than substance."

Democrats expect to get 57 votes from their caucus, with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., absent due to cancer surgery on Monday. Four Republican senators -- Richard Lugar of Indiana, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and George Voinovich of Ohio -- have said they back the treaty while three others -- Robert Bennett of Utah, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Tennessee's Bob Corker -- said they were leaning toward approval.

On Monday, lawmakers debated two amendments -- one that would increase the number of weapons inspectors and another to raise the limits on the deployed strategic nuclear delivery vehicles from 700 to 720.

The two amendments would alter the treaty, effectively killing the accord as it would send it back to negotiators. Democrats were likely to prevail in defeating the two measures.

In Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned against any changes to the treaty.

"I can only underline the fact that (the treaty) that was developed on a strict basis of parity, in our view corresponds fully to the national interests of Russia and the U.S.A.," Lavrov told Russia's Interfax news agency. "It cannot be opened up and become the subject of new negotiations."

In a nod to political sensitivities, Obama held off a celebratory bill signing for legislation ending the ban on openly gay servicemembers in the military until Wednesday. The White House did not want to anger Republican senators opposed to lifting the ban as several could be critical to ratification of the treaty. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for example, opposed ending the moratorium and the White House is hoping for his vote for the treaty.

The treaty specifically would limit each country's strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, down from the current ceiling of 2,200. It would also establish a system for monitoring and verification. U.S. weapons inspections ended a year ago with the expiration of a 1991 treaty.

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Associated Press writers Ben Feller and Mark S. Smith contributed to this report.