Senate OK is pact’s next hurdle

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama predicted Thursday that enough Republicans will support his arms-control treaty with Russia to win Senate approval by the end of the year.

History is on his side, even if numbers in the Senate are not. He will need 67 votes in a chamber where Democrats control 59 votes and in a sour political climate that could tempt Republicans to set aside the nonpartisan deference often given to national security treaties.

“There is a strong history of bipartisanship when it comes to the evaluation of international treaties, particularly arms-control treaties,” Obama said in Prague, where he signed the new strategic nuclear weapons pact with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Republicans were expected to get behind the treaty if Obama can promise it won’t undercut the nation’s ability to set up missile defenses to protect against an attack from Iran or North Korea.

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