the 'bipartisanship' fraud is over and it's back to business as usual
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CBS) Leading Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said on Sunday's "Face the Nation" that he will vote against the new START Treaty, the arms reduction pact between the United States and Russia that is currently President Barack Obama's top foreign relations priority.
Graham had been considered one of the GOP senators likely to support ratifying the treaty. The Washington Post had reported earlier this month that Graham would allow a vote on START if the Democrats moved fast to extend the Bush era tax cuts, and he had voted to start debating the treaty, which was interpreted as a sign that he could support final ratification.
But sounding vexed during the show, Graham seemed not only chafed by the Senate voting down a Republican effort to amend the preamble of the treaty; he also linked the START treaty to his resentment over how the current lame-duck session of Congress has turned out.
Graham exclaimed how hard it was to pass a bipartisan compromise over extending the Bush era tax cuts, and expressed his disappointment over repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy banning openly gay service members.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/19/ftn/main7165440.shtmlWASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, said on Sunday that he would vote against the new arms control treaty with Russia, rallying opponents of the pact as it approaches the decisive vote expected this week.
Mr. McConnell, of Kentucky, said the treaty’s verification provisions were inadequate and he worried that it could inhibit development of missile defense despite statements to the contrary by President Obama and the nation’s military leaders. He also criticized Democratic lawmakers for what he said was their cramming the treaty into the final days of the year.
"Rushing it right before Christmas" is just a way of "trying to jam us," Mr. McConnell said on CNN. "I don’t think this is the best way to be doing this."
The White House and Senate supporters have said lawmakers have had eight months and several hearings to evaluate the treaty. That was true for members of the Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. McConnell said, but other senators have not focused on it until now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/us/politics/20start.html?hp=&pagewanted=print