START May Have Stopped

President Barack Obama has made passing the START arms treaty with Russia a huge priority for this month. But with plenty of Republicans opposed to the pact and Congress facing a multitude of issues before year-end, the White House will have trouble reaching that goal, Roll Call reports.

Senate Republicans say it might be possible to deal with START this month, but only if Democrats quickly pass funding for the government’s operations into next year and drop their opposition to extending the Bush-era tax cuts for everyone.

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (pictured), the GOP point man on START, says the onus is on the Democrats. “If they choose to pursue the entire agenda that Harry Reid initially announced, it would be impossible to do everything,” he says. “If, on the other hand, they cut back on key pieces of that, and if the House acts on a continuing resolution more quickly than they’ve indicated they’re going to, … we could start the START treaty in time to get it done.”