Arizona Senator Jon Kyl (republikanernes innpisker i Senatet) var gjest på gårsdagens Meet the Press (28. november 2010). Intervjuet gir innsikt i hvorfor Senator Kyl ikke vil stemme for START-avtalen som ble undertegnet av president Obama og Russlands president Medvedev i april.
David Gregory tok opp emnet ved å spørre Senator Kyl om han fortsatt står ved sin tidligere uttalelse om at START-avtalen ikke har noen mulighet for å bli ratifisert (med minst 67 stemmer) i Senatets lame duck-sesjon (dvs. fram til den 3. januar 2011).
Senator Kyl fokuserte på at hans motstand er basert på Senatets tette saksliste, og den korte tidsfristen, heller enn problemer med selve avtalen: “it’s more a view of reality rather than policy.”
Kyl fokuserte videre på at det rett og slett ikke haster med å ratifisere avtalen:
I think clearly they’ve got to set some priorities here. Are they going to deal with the funding of the government for the remainder of the fiscal year? They’ve got to do that. Are they going to deal with the issue which is on everybody’s mind, that you mentioned earlier, and that is to ensure that we don’t have a big tax increase, the largest tax increase in the history of the country. These are higher priority items. And if we do those things and then potentially deal with some of the other political issues that Senator Reid has said he wants to deal with, in that event then there would not be time to do a START treaty as well.
Gregory var ikke fornøyd med svaret:
The issue is, Senator Kyl, what do you need all the time for?
Kyl svarte (etter først å ha gjentatt det han sa i utgangspunktet):
As I told you, my issue is that you can’t do everything. I was stating it as a matter of reality, not a matter of policy. How can Harry Reid do all of the things we’ve talked about, deal with the expiring tax provisions and, in addition to that, deal with the START treaty, which by itself could probably take at least two weeks? … We have three weeks to go before the Christmas recess, and there are, in my opinion, a lot of amendments that have to be raised on this treaty. And as a result colleagues are going to offer those amendments. Is Harry Reid just going to shut it off and say, «We only have three days»?
Kyl uttalte deretter at Obama administrasjonens hastverk med å ratifisere avtalen rett og slett bunner i politiske vurderinger. Den samme anklagen kan selvsagt adresseres til Senator Kyl.
Senere i programmet hadde Washington Posts E.J. Dionne, Jr. følgende å si om Senator Kyls uttalelser:
I think this is an amazing position he’s taking. This is something supported by the entire range of conservative opinion, from Bob Kagan, a neocon, to Pat Buchanan, a paleocon, Henry Kissinger, James A. Baker III. I don’t know why he’s opposing this. I don’t think it was clear from his answer, except he wanted to block a lot of other stuff in the last Congress.
Senator Dick Lugar (R-Indiana) har tidligere uttalt følgende:
At this point, I’m simply trying, in as civil a manner as possible to say to my colleagues, please do your duty by your country.
President George H.W. Bushs tidligere nasjonale sikkerhetsrådgiver Bent Scowcroft har på sin side uttalt seg på følgende måte:
It’s not clear to me what it is. … I’ve got to think that it’s the increasingly partisan nature and the desire for the president not to have a foreign policy victory.
På intrade.com kan det spores en nedadgående kurve over sannsynligheten for at START-avtalen ratifiseres innen utgangen av 2010, og mandag ettermiddag (29. november) avtegner markedet en sannsynlighet på 32% for at avtalen ratifiseres i Senatets lame duck-sesjon:
Hva tror du?
