Votes Scarce for Nuke Test Ban
By TERENCE HUNT
12:25 AM ET 10/06/99
WASHINGTON (AP) - A landmark treaty pushed by President Clinton to ban nuclear
testing worldwide appeared doomed Tuesday as Republican opposition hardened and a senior
Democrat conceded there were not enough votes to ratify it. Senate Majority Leader Trent
Lott, R-Miss., offered to postpone a scheduled vote on the treaty next Tuesday - but only
if the administration asserted it was seeking the delay. Lott also said he would not agree
to any plan under which the treaty could be called up again before 2001.
``If we're going to vote on this issue in this Congress, it's going to be next
Tuesday or Wednesday,'' Lott told reporters Tuesday night. The White House continued to
proceed as if the planned vote would occur. It appeared that neither Republicans nor the
administration wanted to be blamed for shelving the treaty. ``As far as we're concerned,
as far as we know, there is a vote scheduled for Tuesday and we intend to make every
effort to succeed,'' National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said. However, he said there
was a recognition by some senators that a mere week of debate was not a lot of time and
``a cause for concern to some.'' Both Lott and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle took to
the Senate floor late Tuesday to say they were trying to work out a compromise, but none
had jelled yet.
``All we can do is continue to discuss the matter,'' Daschle, D-S.D., said.
Clinton lobbied for the treaty in a three-hour dinner with a bipartisan group of senators.
Some supported the treaty and others expressed reservations. The president ``spoke quite
passionately about the treaty ... and the consequences of defeat to U.S. leadership, the
national interest and the nonproliferation agenda,'' National Security Council spokesman
David Leavy said. Earlier, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the senior Democrat on the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, predicted that the Republican leadership would ``pull
down the vote'' within 24 hours. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty has been signed
by 154 nations but ratified by only two of the seven acknowledged nuclear powers, Britain
and France.
Biden said it looked as if the treaty battle was degenerating into an almost
straight party-line vote. Assuming all 45 Senate Democrats voted for the treaty, the
president still would need 22 Republicans to gain the necessary 67 votes for ratification,
and GOP support was disappearing.
``Republicans have vanished into the ether,'' Biden said. A defeat of the treaty
would be a humiliating loss for Clinton, who had argued that it was vital for America's
national security interests and a deterrent to the spread of nuclear weapons. ``I think
for the Senate to reject it would send a terrible message,'' the president said at the
White House. ``It would say to the whole world, `Look, America's not going to test but if
you want to test, go right ahead. We're not interested in leading the world toward
nonproliferation anymore.'''
The already slim prospects for ratification of the treaty declined further late
Tuesday when Biden said he had told Clinton the votes were not there.
Clinton complained that Republicans were rushing consideration of the treaty.
Further, he said, Republicans were ``under enormous pressure'' not to side with the
administration.
Republicans who often agree with the administration on international
issues, including Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana, John Warner of Virginia and Pete
Domenici of New Mexico, all have signaled their opposition to the treaty.
Many prominent Republicans - including GOP presidential hopeful George W. Bush -
say the treaty is not verifiable and would not stop the nuclear ambitions of North Korea
and Iran. Further, they argue it would harm efforts to maintain the safety and reliability
of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
But Defense Secretary William Cohen said the scientific and military communities
believe the current testing system - using computer simulation instead of actual nuclear
explosions - is a reliable way of appraising the U.S. weapons stockpile.
``So we can continue to test them in a non-nuclear fashion that will satisfy us
year by year,'' Cohen said on PBS's ``The News Hour.'' ``Now, in addition, I think the
questions are, well, how can we be sure about the other guys? ...We will have very little
leverage over those countries who are saying you rejected the treaty and, therefore, we
can test.''
Clinton said the United States stopped testing in 1992 and has no intention of
resuming.
The White House appeared surprised by the swift turn against the treaty on
Capitol Hill. The president had invited a bipartisan group of senators to dinner to lobby
for the pact and had defended it during two appearances - once at the White House and
again at a Pentagon bill-signing ceremony. The White House also offered a briefing on the
treaty with four experts.
Daryl Kimball, director of the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers, a treaty
advocacy group, said the organization still wanted to see a vote.
``It's clear that the fight for the 67 votes is difficult and there has been no
movement since Friday,'' Kimball said. ``The consequences of delay would be tremendous,
but the responsibility for that would lie at the feet of those who vote against it.'' The
Armed Services Committee held a closed-door hearing on whether the nation's nuclear
stockpiles could be maintained in the absence of testing. Participants later said there
was lively discussion on whether, if the treaty were voted down, pressure would increase
to resume testing.
Related Links:
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Clinton on Verge of
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