Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday urged Senators to act quickly and vote in favor of the New START arms control agreement upon their return from August recess. “They must act because our national security is at risk,” she said during a briefing in Washington, D.C. She called the decision by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to delay the committee’s vote on the treaty until after the recess a “good faith” effort to ensure widespread bipartisan support for the pact. That way, committee members will have more time to study the agreement’s details. During the briefing, she and other senior State Department officials said they think more Republican Senators will come out in support the treaty than just Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), SFRC ranking member, who has already declared his pro-treaty stance. (Clinton transcript)
President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law $150 billion in defense funds as part of the tax-and-spending package known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after congressional Republicans approved the legislation in narrow, drawn-out votes earlier this week.
