WAND/WiLL national efforts help defeat move to "unsign" the CTBT

June 26, 2006

On June 15, word came that Sen. Kyl (R-AZ) wanted to offer an amendment to the FY07 defense authorization that would prod the Administration to withdraw the US signature from the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The CTBT was signed by President Clinton in 1996 but has not yet been ratified by the Senate. If the Kyl amendment was adopted, it would signal a possible return to nuclear testing in the United States for the first time since the early 1960s.

"It was terrible news," says Marie Rietmann, WAND public policy director. "It represented a huge step backward in thinking about the U.S. in the world. It left us stunned -- but it also sparked us to take action, quickly and effectively."

WAND and WiLL (Women Legislators' Lobby, a program of WAND) sprang into action. In the span of less than one week, the WiLL staff in WAND’s Washington DC office was able to contact over 250 state legislators -- including 80 members of WiLL -- to encourage them to help stop the amendment.

Staff focused on moderate Republican Senators in ten key states--Alaska, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. On Monday and Tuesday, June 19 and 20, by placing phone calls first to WiLL members and later to all women legislators in these states, we asked that the legislators call or fax a letter using draft language provided by WiLL to their US Senators on the issue.

WAND sent an action alert to all WAND members nationwide asking them to contact their Senators urging them to oppose this dangerous amendment.

On Thursday, June 22, the Senate held a cloture vote, limiting the amount of debate on the defense authorization. Therefore, the amendments to be included in the bill were greatly decreased.

Due in part to the pressure of state legislators on their US Senate counterparts, the Kyl amendment was not allowed to be debated. It is probably safe to assume that this speaks to a lack of Senate support for unsigning the CTBT, and we also know that we helped prevent a major trainwreck in US foreign policy by helping stop this attempt.