The US Senate was expected to vote later Tuesday on whether to move forward with ratifying a nuclear arms pact with Russia as the White House appeared closer to having enough support to ratify the treaty, dpa reported.
The Senate was scheduled to vote to end debate on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, which would set up a vote Thursday on final passage. Two more Republicans reportedly voiced support for the treaty.
That would appear to give President Barack Obama and the majority Democrats the minimum votes needed to win Senate approval. Seven Republican senators had already announced they intend to vote for START.
Under the US Constitution, the votes of two-thirds of the chamber, - or 67 senators - are needed to ratify treaties. Democrats control 58 seats.
New START requires the United States and Russia to reduce their numbers of deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550 within seven years. Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the accord in April.
Conservative Republicans have opposed the pact, arguing it could limit the ability of the United States to develop missile defence. The White House rejects that notion, and Obama sent a letter to Republicans senators over the weekend expressing his commitment to move forward in the deployment of missile defence.
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