Obama pledges $4 billion more for nuke complex in bid to pass START, sources say

In a last-minute bid to save a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, the Obama administration has offered to spend $4 billion more over five years on the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, congressional sources said Friday.
President Obama has made passage of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, one of his top priorities for the lame-duck session starting next week. Officials worry that the pact could face long delays, or even fail, if it is put off until next year, when the Democrats' Senate majority will shrink.
Republicans have conditioned their support for the treaty on a big budget increase to fix up the country's aging weapons-production facilities.
Administration officials went to Capitol Hill on Friday and said the White House was prepared to add $4.1 billion for nuclear facilities, according to one congressional aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private. That is on top of a $10 billion increase the administration had already promised over the next decade .More at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/12/AR2010111206326.html

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