Senators to Kerry: Wanna Check Up on Obama's START Promises?

Two Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are calling on the chairman, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), to hold an oversight hearing “to determine whether the administration has fully lived up to the expectations raised and commitments made in order to garner support” for the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) treaty with Russia.

Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) noted the promises President Obama made to the Senate in order to ensure passage of the treaty just before Christmas 2010: deploying a robust missile defense system, fully funding modernization of an aging nuclear weapons complex and maintaining conventional prompt global strike capability.

“Sixteen months later, we are concerned that the conditions outlined by the Senate in the accompanying Resolution of Ratification have not been met by the administration,” Corker and Isakson wrote.

“Key to the support of many Senators were the statements and commitments made with regards to missile defense, nuclear modernization and conventional prompt global strike,” they continued. “In the intervening months since this body provided its advice and consent, the administration has not requested the funding required to meet our nuclear modernization needs, the administration appears prepared to negotiate away pieces of our missile defense plans and there is no clearer path on progress in achieving the other conditions and declarations outlined in the Resolution of Ratification.”