国际英语新闻：Obama applauds endorsement of new START by U.S. Senate panel

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday applauded the endorsement by a Senate panel of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia, calling it " an important step forward" that will advance U.S. national security.

"Indeed, ratification of this treaty will reinforce our cooperation with Russia on a range of issues, including one of our highest priorities -- preventing the spread of nuclear weapons," Obama said in a statement. "It reduces the deployed nuclear forces of both the United States and Russia, provides strong verification measures, and continues to improve relations between our two nations -- the world's two largest nuclear weapon powers, and key partners in global security."

Obama said he was pleased that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on Thursday in favor of the New START with "strong bipartisan support." He urged the full Senate to "move forward quickly with a vote to approve this treaty," saying that like past agreements of its kind, this treaty will "advance American leadership in the world, while strengthening our national security in the 21st century."

In a joint statement, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates also urged the Senate to "act quickly and approve this treaty," saying that it will provide stability and predictability between the world's two leading nuclear powers, "reducing the number of nuclear weapons held by the United States and Russia to a level not seen since the 1950s while retaining a safe and effective deterrent," and will restore "crucial inspection and verification mechanisms" that ceased when the original START agreement expired in December last year, allowing U.S. inspectors back inside Russian nuclear weapons silos.

"And it will help keep nuclear material from falling into the hands of terrorists or rogue regimes," the joint statement added.

Republican leaders have said they are in no rush to vote on New START. In addition to wanting more time to review the treaty, they have been seeking more money for maintaining the nuclear weapons stockpile and modernizing the production complex.

The new START treaty, signed on April 8 in Prague by President Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, replaces the 1991 pact that expired in December last year. The treaty stipulates that the number of nuclear warheads be reduced to 1,550 on each side over seven years, while the number of delivery vehicles, both deployed and non-deployed, must not exceed 800.

The U.S. and Russian presidents agreed that the ratification process should be simultaneous.