A key US senator reiterated Sunday his position that a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia could not be ratified this year, rejecting calls from President Barack Obama for quick action. "It is more a view of reality rather than policy," senator John Kyl told NBC's "Meet the Press," calling for weeks of debate on the details of the new START arms reduction treaty.
Obama has repeatedly called on senators to quickly ratify the treaty, warning that failure to approve it would result in serious consequences for the country's security. Kyl noted that Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid is likely to use the final weeks of the year to finalise government spending bills and hammer out a compromise on taxes.
"Theoretically there would be time, but he's made it clear he had a different agenda in mind. They're going to have to set some priorities here."
Last week, the Arizona Republican stunned the White House when he said there would not be enough time during the "lame duck" legislative session, held after November mid-term elections, to pass the treaty.
Leading Democratic Senator Dick Durbin slammed Kyl's position. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty - signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Obama in April - restricts each nation to a maximum of 1,550 deployed warheads, a cut of about 30 percent from a limit set in 2002. The Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has indicated it will rubber stamp the treaty only after its ratification in the United States.