Nuke treaty ratification appears out of reach

By Martha M. Hamilton, David G. Taylor
Published on Monday, August 29th, 2011 at 2:01 p.m.

Related campaign promises:

Secure ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) | Details

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A South Korean official shows the seismic wave of North Korea's nuclear test on May 25, 2009

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty essentially says that participating countries should neither detonate nuclear weapons nor support others that do so. The treaty was created after a vote in United Nations General Assembly. Of 195 member states, 154 have signed and ratified the treaty -- the latest being Ghana on June 14, 2011.

The treaty cannot officially go into effect until all 44 countries listed in Annex 2 of the treaty ratify it. The nine holdouts are India, Pakistan, Israel, China, Iran, Indonesia, North Korea, Egypt and the United States.

Since 1999, when former President Bill Clinton failed to secure a two-thirds majority of the Senate to approve the treaty, a great deal of bipartisan support has emerged for ratification. But the political realities going into the 2012 election make ratification unlikely during the current administration, so we rated this promise Broken