Speculation about the real effect of the new Democratic-controlled Senate on President George W. Bush's legislative agenda ran rampant yesterday, leading some observers to conclude that the president's missile defence plans may be in serious trouble.
Senator Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, a Democrat who is likely to become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, who stands to take over the Armed Services Committee, are both opposed to much of Mr Bush's missile plans. Both also oppose a US withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972, which some of the president's principal aides see as a necessary step toward putting a missile defence in place.
Mr Levin told CNN that such a system "could lead to a very negative and dangerous response on the part of Russia, for instance, or China".
China, Russia and a number of other countries have expressed opposition to Mr Bush's plans for a missile defence system, describing it as a violation of the 1972 treaty.
Even though a number of Democrats supported Mr Bush's tax plan this week, his other legislative priorities will not face smooth sailing. With Democrats set to take control of the Senate on June 5th, Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, who will be the majority leader, said it would be impossible to expand nuclear power now because of the lack of a national repository for nuclear waste storage.
Also, appearing on the NBC programme Meet the Press, he pronounced Mr Bush's proposal for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge "finished".
And while Mr Daschle said Democrats would support more research on missile defence, he declared: "The president has said he wants to deploy, and I think that is a premature decision and we certainly wouldn't be prepared to do that."
Mr Andrew Card jnr, the White House chief of staff, insisted that President Bush would push ahead with his programme. "We'll be able to get the president's agenda put forward because it's an agenda for the American people," he said on the CBS programme Face the Nation.
The competing television appearances showed the struggle ahead in a reconfigured Congress in which the Republicans no longer hold both houses. Senator James M. Jeffords of Vermont gave the Democrats majority status last week when he left the Republican Party to become an Independent.
AFP adds:
Washington was poised to offer Moscow a package of arms purchases, military aid and joint exercises in exchange for Russia's agreement to scrap the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, the New York Times reported yesterday.
Moscow immediately responded to the report by rejecting such a deal.
Officials in the US administration told the newspaper the proposals were likely to include an offer to buy Russian-made S300 surface-to-air missiles which could be integrated into a defensive shield over Russia and Europe.