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Biden aide to oversee treaty
By POLITICO STAFF | 04/08/10 6:41 AM
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[image: Biden aide to oversee treaty]
Joe Biden speaks on April 6. APClose

The White House has tapped Brian McKeon, a national security adviser in Vice
President Joe Biden's office, to oversee the ratification process for the
START treaty in the Senate.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the treaty will be posted
online this morning, and members of the administration's negotiating team
will begin briefing senators on the language.

Briefing reporters on Air Force One along with Ben Rhodes of the National
Security Council, Gibbs stressed that the ratification process has
traditionally gained bipartisan support in the Senate. He said the White
House expects Senate approval by the end of the year, but declined to put a
firmer deadline on it.

"We are hopeful that reducing the threat of nuclear weapons remains a
priority for both parties," Gibbs said.

President Obama arrived in Prague Thursday morning and immediately went into
a bilateral meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

McKeon was chief counsel for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which
Biden used to chair. He wrote about his new assignment on the White House
blog <http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/07/a-new-start>.
--
Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.co