United States Senate rejects ratification of CTBT

The decision to vote on the treaty was unexpected because the White House, certain that it would be rejected by the Republican majority, had offered to back down and not bring it up, possibly for the remainder of the Clinton term. But the Senate Conservatives, who have been smarting at Clinton for more than six years, dragged it down to a vote and humiliated the administration.

It is rare for theSenate to ever reject a treaty. The last time the Senate declined to ratify a treaty was in 1983, and the last arms control pact it rejected was the Treaty of Versailles to establish the League of Nations after World War One. The episode also showed the awesome majesty of a legislative body in a democracy.

Technically, the issue can be brought before the Senate again only by the majority (Republican) side. And for now and in the near future, they pack too much punch and are dead set against it. Even if the Democrats overturn the 45-55 odds in the Senate in next year’s election (when one-third of the Senate retires), it looks unlikely they will get 67 Senators to support it in the near future.

Although the treaty is dead for all practical purposes in the near future, President Clinton swore American allegiance to a moratorium on testing and administration officials said Washington would continue to pursue its arms control objectives.

The Senate rejection angered President Clinton, who had waged apersonal crusade in its favour. “The fight is far from over,” he said grimly in a statement read out on the lawns of the White House. “The Senate has taken us on a detour. But America eventually always returns to the main road, and we will do so again. When all is said and done, the United States will ratify the test ban treaty.”

Non-proliferation gurus said the rejection of the treaty by the Senate would seriously undermine the Clinton administration arms control agenda vis-a-vis the rest of the world, especially countries that are on the threshold of developing nuclear weapons and countries like China which wants to refine and improve its nuclear arsenal.

Experts fear that both Russia and China, which have signed the treaty but have not ratified it, will now balk. India and Pakistan, which have not even signed, may also hold back. US allies including Britain, Germany and France have warned that rejection of the test ban treaty would raise serious doubts about America’s own commitment to reducing thenuclear arms threat.

The conservative Senators were unmoved by all these arguments. They insisted that the treaty was flawed, that verification (if other countries had tested) was difficult, and that the US needed to retain the option of testing to meet unforseen consequences.

“It is the most egregious treaty ever submitted to the Senate for advice and consent… a dangerous treaty that merits rejection,” rasped Sen. Jesse Helms, the foreign policy overlord in the Senate.

It was Helms and a small group of far right Conservatives who forced the vote today even though there were enough Republicans ready to defer the decision. Quite besides their own nuclear theology, it seemed they also wanted to deny Clinton the one foreign policy prize he sought most in order to go down in history.

But Clinton suggested that he is not about to give up and that he will fight them even in the reminder of this term. India and Pakistan may yet face the brunt of his determination. US officials have already suggested thatNew Delhi and Islamabad should sign the treaty as a way of putting the US Senate under pressure.