国际英语新闻：Obama sees good chance of passing nuke treaty with Russia

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said Sunday that he felt "reasonably good about our prospects" of getting the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia through the lame-duck session of Congress.

"My hope is that because this is a good treaty we should get it done," Obama told reporters after returning to Washington from a 10-day Asia trip. He singled out Russia's "important" support on sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program and provision of supply route for the NATO-led Afghanistan war.

Obama told his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday that getting the U.S. Senate to ratify the new START is a "top priority" of his administration. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Yokohama, Japan.

"I reiterated my commitment to getting the START treaty done during the lame-duck session," Obama said.

Obama's Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives to the opposition Republicans in the Nov. 2 mid-term elections but retained control of the Senate. On Monday, a lame-duck session of Congress begins until the start of the new Congress in January next year, where lawmakers who have been voted out of office attend the session while those newly-elected do not.

In the United States, the lame-duck session is a time for the governing party to try to act on stalled bills. This period is sometimes productive as those outgoing lawmakers oftentimes vote with a free hand.