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Obama Rallying Support for New START Treaty

VOA News
18 November 2010

U.S. President Barack Obama plans to meet Thursday with former defense and diplomatic leaders from both major political parties at the White House to rally support for a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia.

The White House said President Obama will continue to push for ratification of the New START treaty with Russia by the end of the year, despite the opposition of a key Senate Republican.

Senator Jon Kyl, the Republican negotiator on the issue, has resisted the president's efforts to hold the vote before the new Congress takes office in January with a stronger Republican presence.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday the administration is confident that the new treaty will come up for a vote in the U.S. Senate before the end of the year and that it will pass.

President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the new agreement in April, committing to cut deployed nuclear weapons by about 30 percent.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.