A New START Wins In U.S. Senate!

 

Washington, D.C. - In a dramatic show of bi-partisan support for national security, the United States Senate voted yesterday to give its advice and consent to pass the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) by a vote of 71 to 26. See the roll call vote here.

 

“As one of the State Directors for the Women Legislators’ Lobby (WiLL), my office gathered support for the New START Treaty from many members of the MA House of Representatives who signed on to a letter of support this past summer. Last week, I worked directly with Senator Brown’s staff to voice our concerns on this matter and we were pleased that he voted in favor of the New START Treaty,” said Rep. Kay Khan. The members of the MA Legislature pushed for Senator Brown’s support once again by resending the support letter, urging him to vote for the treaty’s ratification and making calls to Brown’s office in the days prior to the U.S. Senate vote.

  

The New START Treaty replaces the 15-year-old treaty that expired in December of 2009.  A 2/3 vote of those present and voting was needed for passage.

 

“This holiday the Senate gave up partisan bickering and agreed with civilian and military leaders, activists, religious and state elected leaders, as well as a long list of former administration expert staff. It was the perfect gift of security for the nation,” stated Susan Shaer, Executive Director of WAND, Women’s Action for New Directions. “There is power when activists and legislators come together to make their case on Capitol Hill.”

 

WAND’s nationwide network of legislators and activists continued to work vigilantly for this treaty’s ratification until all votes were counted.

 

I would like to thank WiLL and WAND who sent out countless alerts, trained legislators and activists from targeted states, led meetings with Senators, coordinated with state-based organizations, placed op-eds and letters to the editor, spoke on the radio, circulated petitions and sign-on letters, placed ads and made thousands of phone calls to help get this Treaty ratified.   
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