Another fight for Kerry and Obama

[fedupinBushcountry]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/10/25/obama_may_face_fight_on_treaties">Obama may face fight on treaties

The first stop for the treaties will be the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led by Democratic Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, a key Obama ally. The committee has already begun plotting strategy for how to combat the opposition and enlist the necessary support.

“Kerry has been laying the ground work,’’ including high-level meetings with administration officials and fellow senators, said Frederick Jones, a committee spokesman. “These treaties are a priority.’’

International treaties are signed by the president, but under the Constitution must be ratified by the Senate to become law. They need at least 67 votes to pass, not a simple majority of 51, typically requiring strong support from the president’s own party and a significant number of votes from the opposing party. Democrats now control 60 seats in the Senate, counting two independents who usually vote with the party.

Obtaining 67 votes has proved difficult under the best of circumstances and helps explain why fewer than 20 major security treaties have been ratified since the end of World War II, according to David Auerswald, a professor of strategy and policy at the National War College in Washington.