Democrats have moved a step closer toward a crucial US Senate vote on a new arms control treaty with Russia, beating back Republican efforts to alter the accord and setting up a showdown with the Republican Party on US President Barack Obama’s top foreign policy priority.
The White House has made ratification of the landmark agreement an imperative in the closing days of the post-election Congress, but its hopes for the pact were complicated on Sunday as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would oppose the treaty.
“Rushing it right before Christmas strikes me as trying to jam us,” McConnell said. “I think that was not the best way to get the support of people like me.”
McConnell on CNN’s State of the Union criticized the treaty’s verification system and expressed concern that the pact would limit US missile defense options even though Obama insisted on Saturday that the treaty imposes no restrictions on the system aimed at protecting the US and its allies from ballistic missile attacks.
Undeterred by McConnell’s opposition, Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Sunday night that the Senate would vote today to end debate on the treaty and move to a final vote.
“It is time to move forward on a treaty that will help reverse nuclear proliferation and make it harder for terrorists to get their hands on a nuclear weapon,” Reid said, adding the debate “will come down to a simple choice: you either want to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, or you don’t.”
A sixth day of debate was scheduled for yesterday.
The White House and Democrats are determined to win approval of the treaty before next month, when Republicans increase their numbers in the Senate. During a rare Sunday session of the Senate, Democrats turned back a Republican amendment to change the treaty, which would have effectively killed it.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number