Obama May Bypass Senate Ratification for Arms Treaty

With the clock running out on START and President Obama on the ground in Moscow, the administration is looking for anything they can find to put a positive spin in the media on this trip. Obama is not receiving a heroic welcome in Moscow like he did in Europe. The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) before it expires on December 5. The Russians are demanding compromise on the missile defense shield. The Senate ratification process may be difficult if President Obama has to give away our missile defense shield to get Russian approval.

MOSCOW -- With the clock running out on a new US-Russian arms treaty before the previous Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires on December 5, a senior White House official said Sunday said that the difficulty of the task might mean temporarily bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in ratifying treaties by enforcing certain aspects of a new deal on an executive levels and a “provisional basis” until the Senate ratifies the treaty.