Republicans fail in bid to change US-Russia nuclear arms treaty

Washington:  Senate Democrats deflected an initiative by Republicans that would have forced US and Russian negotiators to reopen an arms treaty reducing stockpiles of nuclear warheads.

But Saturday's 59-37 vote against an amendment by Republican Sen. John McCain indicated the difficulty President Barack Obama is having in trying to win Senate ratification of the treaty before a new, more Republican Congress assumes power in January.

Treaties require a two-thirds majority of those voting in the Senate, or 67 votes if all 100 senators vote.

Led by McCain, Obama's Republican opponent in the 2008 presidential election, Republicans tried to strike words from the treaty's preamble that they say would allow Russia to withdraw from the pact if the US develops a missile defence system in Europe.

The treaty is a foreign policy priority for Obama, who signed it in April with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Warhead ceiling

It would limit each country's strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, down from the current ceiling of 2,200, and establish a system for monitoring and verification.

US weapons inspections ended a year ago with the expiration of the 1991 arms control treaty.