国际英语新闻：U.S. Senate to vote on arms treaty with Russia

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate decided on Tuesday to bring full vote on a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, long sought by President Barack Obama and the Democrats.

The Senate voted by 67-28 to end debate on the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and move on to vote on it. As at least 10 Republican senators have publicly pledged to back the pact, its passage seems to be a sure thing.

Obama sees the pact's passage this year as his last priority for the current Congress session which is in its waning days. For the past days, he joined Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in calling wavering Republican senators to line up their support for it.

A Christmas tree is seen in front of the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, Dec. 21, 2010. The U.S. Senate decided on Tuesday to bring full vote on a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, long sought by President Barack Obama and the Democrats.

Obama wrote on Saturday to Senate Republican leaders to try to assuage some Republicans' concern about the pact's possible limit on U.S. missile defense system, assuring them that "as long as I am president, and as long as the Congress provides the necessary funding, the United States will continue to develop and deploy effective missile defenses to protect the United States, our deployed forces and our allies and partners."

He also wrote to some senators to assure them about his commitment to modernizing U.S. nuclear arsenal with a spending of some 85 billion dollars over 10 years.

Following demand on Monday for the Senate to act quickly by Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Secretary Robert Gates issued a statement on Tuesday, urging the Senate to ratify the pact this week.

At least 10 Republican senators said early Tuesday that they would back the treaty. A final vote is expected on Wednesday.

For the treaty to pass the 100-member Senate, a two-thirds majority of those voting is needed. The Democrats have 58 votes in their caucus with one expected absent due to a prostate cancer surgery.

"I think it's going to pass and more than just pass," said Republican Senator Bob Corker, who has agreed to throw his weight behind the accord.

"We remain extremely confident that this is a treaty that the Senate will believe is in the best interest of our national security and in reducing nuclear tensions and in providing an important inspection regime on the Russian arsenal," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters on Tuesday. "And because of all those reasons, we think the Senate will pass and ratify the START treaty in the next day or so."

But Republican Senators Jon Kyl, Lindsey Graham and John Barrasso on Tuesday called a press conference to express their displeasure at rushing the pact through.

In the current Congress lame-duck session, the Obama administration has managed to push through a tax-cut deal and a deal repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the military.

Obama stressed as a national security imperative the passage of the new START treaty, the centerpiece of his efforts to reset relations with Russia, and has delayed his departure for Hawaii for vacation to guide the pact through this year.

If put off until early January when the new Congress opens, the pact is sure to face a dim outlook in the Senate as the Democrats' strength there is reduced from 58-42 to 53-47.