Obama's Russian Nuke Deal Faces Hill Opposition

President Barack Obama has revived an effort to pass the once shelved US -Russia Civil Nuclear Agreement; however, a bipartisan effort on Capitol Hill may kill the deal.

President Barack Obama has revived an effort to pass the once shelved U.S. -Russia Civil Nuclear Agreement; however, a bipartisan effort to kill the agreement is in the works today on Capitol Hill.

The deal would open the way to joint research projects, transfer of nuclear technology between the two countries, and the exchange of nuclear materials for storage and reprocessing.

The Russians have long pressed for this deal. Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, told the Global Security Newswire that “This deal cannot escape the accusation that it is a nuclear bribe to get Russia to do our bidding on Iran. The deal may go through but the bribe won’t work.”

Unlike a treaty, the “agreement” does not require Senate ratification. Instead, it goes into effect unless Congress passes a joint resolution opposing it. Even if Congress did pass such a resolution, the President could veto it - and thus require opponents to come up with a two-thirds majority to override.

So resistance seems futile. Yet even so, the agreement has drawn opposition from a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, Ed Markey, Chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, joined by Republican Jeff Fortenberry. FrumForum has also obtained a copy of a “Dear Colleagues” letter being circulated on the Hill which lays out Reps. Markey and Fortenberry's case against the agreement. Specifically, the letter notes that Russia continues to assist Iran with its nuclear program, continues to sell advanced weapons systems, has not withdrawn fully from Georgia, and has recently held talks with Syria regarding possible Russian-Syrian nuclear cooperation and argues that for these reasons, fellow members of Congress should oppose the agreement - and force the administration to find more effective ways to stopping Iran’s nuclear program.