Obama calls in ex-officials to rally for arms treaty

WASHINGTON - President Obama summoned a number of former defense secretaries and secretaries of state of both parties to the White House to rally support for an imperiled nuclear-weapons treaty with Russia.

Those invited to the Roosevelt Room meeting on Thursday included Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, Sen. Richard G. Lugar, and former Sen. Sam Nunn, plus former Secretaries of State Madeleine K. Albright, James A. Baker 3d, and Henry Kissinger.

Former Defense Secretaries William Cohen and William Perry and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft also were included.

The White House said Obama wanted to discuss why it is in the national interest that the Senate approve the treaty this year, a move that a key Senate Republican says would be premature.

The White House is mounting an all-out push for ratification of the treaty, which Obama has made a top foreign-policy priority. Press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday he believed the New START deal would come up for a vote and pass during the lame-duck Congress.

The agreement would shrink the U.S. and Russian arsenals of strategic warheads and revive on-the-ground inspections that ceased when a previous treaty expired nearly a year ago.

Sen. Jon Kyl, a leading Republican voice on the issue, dealt the pact a major setback Tuesday by coming out against a vote this year. Kyl, who has been seeking more money and focus on maintaining and modernizing the remaining arsenal, said that more time was needed before moving forward.

The treaty has support from some moderate Republicans, but Kyl's opposition makes approval a tough climb since many in the GOP were looking to his assent before giving their backing. Sixty-seven votes are needed for approval, so Democrats need at least eight Republican votes for ratification in the current Senate.

Once the newly elected Senate is sworn in in January, Democrats need the support of at least 14 Republicans.

"The president will continue to push this and believes the Senate should act on it before they go home," Gibbs said at the White House.

"I think we'll have enough votes to pass it" even without Kyl's support, Gibbs said, calling it crucial to the nuclear inspection regime and international relations.

"I don't think it's going to get pushed into next year," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) issued a statement Wednesday supporting quick action on the treaty, saying he was "puzzled" by Kyl's stance.

But the administration's hopes suffered another hit when Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich, an Ohio moderate who is retiring this year, expressed his reservations.

"America's grand strategy approach towards Russia must be realistic, it must be agile, and as I have said, it must take into account the interests of our NATO allies," Voinovich said in a statement. "I am deeply concerned the New START Treaty may once again undermine the confidence of our friends and allies in Central and Eastern Europe."

A clearly frustrated Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a treaty supporter, suggested the administration press ahead with a vote despite the opposition of Kyl and others. Lugar, a leading voice on nuclear issues, said that if the White House and Democrats waited until next year and the new Congress, the process would have to start anew with hearings, committee votes, and a greater risk that the treaty isn't ratified.

"This is a situation of some national security peril," Lugar said.