National Review Online reports that Senator Ben Nelson (D–NE) does not buy into the Obama Administration’s heated rhetoric that the New START nuclear arms control treaty must pass through the Senate immediately. Senator Nelson is quoted as saying:
Most of the [legislation] being dealt with right now should be held over until 2011, because we should be focused on jobs, taxes, and debt reduction. … I think we can hold off on START; I don’t want it to crowd out taxes, debt reduction, and jobs.
Senator Nelson is only saying what I imagine the vast majority of Americans are thinking:
- We are suffering under almost double-digit unemployment;
- Our tax rates are uniformly going up on January 1; and
- We are no closer to figuring out how our debt should be reduced.
Yet for some reason the Administration and Senate Democratic leadership have prioritized a deeply flawed treaty with an unreliable and corrupt nation that has threatened to start a new nuclear arms race if it doesn’t get its way. And they are demanding that the treaty be passed by the Senate in a “lame duck” session of Congress.
This doesn’t seem to be the optimal time to have a legitimate debate over the merits, or lack thereof, of New START.
Just ask Senator Nelson.
