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Clinton asks Senate to delay vote on CTBT

President Bill Clinton has asked the United States Senate to postpone a vote on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as it faced certain defeat. The Republican opponents of the Treaty said it was only a 'first step' toward resolving the crisis.

Clinton wrote a letter to Senate leaders yesterday, asking that the vote set for today or tomorrow be put off because rejecting the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would undermine US national security and its relations with allies. Clinton has acknowledged that the Treaty will not get the 67 votes needed for ratification.

But Clinton rebuffed demands from conservative Republicans that he agree not to bring the matter up again for a ratification vote for the rest of this Congress -- till a new Congress and president have been elected in November 2000.

But a spokesman for Senate majority leader Trent Lott said, ''Senator Lott will discuss this reversal by the White House with his fellow senators today. This written request is merely a first step.''

''As the majority leader has stated all along, not only must the treaty be withheld from consideration at this time, agreement must be reached that it not come up again at any time this Congress,'' added John Czwartacki, the spokesman for the Mississippi Republican.

The dispute over ratification has both domestic and international implications. Treaty backers say formal US backing is essential if other countries including China, Russia, India and Pakistan are to be brought on board.

The treaty's Republican critics are concerned whether the pact can be verified. They fear a denial of underground testing could weaken the US ability to maintain and test its own nuclear arsenal.

In a letter to Lott and Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, Clinton wrote, ''I believe that proceeding to a vote under these circumstances would severely harm the national security of the United States, damage our relationship with our allies, and undermine our historic leadership over 40 years, through administrations Republican and Democratic, in reducing the nuclear threat.''

Clinton has urged Senate Republican leaders for the past few days to call off the vote rather than reject the international arms accord outright.

Lott has said repeatedly it is ''the wrong treaty at the wrong time'' and has resisted a last-minute onslaught of pressure from Clinton and top administration officials.

UNI

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