U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he no longer opposes the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, potentially putting the Obama administration one vote closer to ratifying the international pledge to cease all nuclear weapons tests, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 16).
McCain said he would consider voting to approve the ban, which he voted against a decade ago although he said he had lingering doubts. "The devil is in the details," he said. "If we could get it done, if it is acceptable, then it is a step forward on the path to the president's goal and mine of a nuclear-free world."
If McCain supported the treaty, Obama would only need six additional Republican votes to be able to pass the ban, which he has made part of his nonproliferation agenda.
Because McCain -- the last Republican candidate for the presidency -- is so influential in his party, his vote could attract others, said Daryl Kimball, head of the Arms Control Association.
"John McCain is one of the only Republican senators who is independent-minded enough to break out of the partisan dividing lines on this issue," Kimball said. "He has the gravitas to influence others in the caucus."
Another potentially undecided vote is Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), who, despite his outspoken advocacy for nuclear nonproliferation, says he has not decided whether he would support a comprehensive ban on testing.
Lugar is currently focused on helping engineer a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty -- a pact designed to further reduce the number of atomic warheads in each country -- before the existing agreement expires at the end of this year (see related GSN story, today). Lugar said he would weigh the merits of the test ban treaty if Congress considered it, but he would prefer for the pact not to arrive on the Senate floor anytime soon because it could complicate arms reduction negotiations with Moscow (Desmond Butler, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, July 24).