Washington (January 21, 2021) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Foreign Relations Committee and long-time Congressional leader on nuclear non-proliferation issues, today commended President Joseph Biden for announcing his intent to extend the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) Treaty for a full five years.  Senator Markey was among the first in July 2018 to call on the Trump administration to negotiate with Russia to extend the New START Treaty for five years and to negotiate transparency steps on non-strategic or tactical nuclear weapons. The bilateral New START Treaty places mutual, verifiable limits on strategic nuclear warheads and deployed and non-deployed strategic delivery systems of both the United States and Russia supported by a verification regime of on-site inspections and routine data-exchanges.

 

“This week, I asked Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken to extend the New START Treaty with Russia a full five years. President Biden has now made clear that this is the U.S. negotiating position and I welcome his commitment to extend the last bilateral arms control treaty with Russia left standing,” said Senator Markey. “New START will keep U.S. eyes on Russia’s strategic nuclear weapons and guard against a 21st century arms race. But we cannot stop with just the extension of New START. We must pursue bold policy and negotiated steps to lift the ‘nuclear sword of Damocles’ that hangs over each of our heads by finally bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force, negotiating an agreement capping fissile material to prevent new countries from acquiring nuclear weapons, and preventing those nations that already have them from pursuing new, deadlier weapons designs. As the first and only country to ever use nuclear weapons in conflict, the United States has a special responsibility to ensure they are never used again.”

 

In May 2019, Senator Markey led introduction of the Saving Arms Control and Verification (SAVE Act),  which would keep in place the U.S. nuclear force structure under the New START Treaty in the event the Treaty expires so long as Russia does the same with its forces. In August 2020, Senator Markey led 16 of his Senate colleagues on a resolution urging President Trump to extend New START five additional years as doing so would put verifiable caps on the only two new Russian strategic systems that are likely to be deployed before 2026.