Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Jim Risch (R-ID) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued the following statement today regarding Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to schedule a cloture vote this Monday on the controversial nomination of Rose Gottemoeller to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security:

“We are extremely disappointed in Senator Reid’s decision to once again subvert the rules of the Senate and schedule a vote on this controversial nominee. We have repeatedly made clear to the Obama administration our concerns about Ms. Gottemoeller’s role in failing to quickly pursue evidence of Russia’s compliance with multiple arms control agreements and her delay in making the Senate aware of these violations.  We wanted assurances that these issues were being treated seriously at the highest levels of this administration, and have received none.

“We are also frustrated that the White House and State Department were unwilling to simply put in writing a commitment that any future U.S. nuclear reductions would be carried out only through a treaty subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, in accordance with Article II, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution. 

“These were simple requests. Yet the Obama administration, even as evidence of Russian noncompliance with arms control agreements grows and Moscow’s bullying of Ukraine and U.S. allies increases, still clings to its ‘reset’ with Russia.

“President Obama appears to have decided to subvert the Senate in his effort to make dangerous reductions to our nuclear stockpile in an effort to burnish his legacy.  We will continue to raise these issues on every relevant nominee and in every setting possible because such policies are dangerous and will make Americans less safe.”

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