By Tom Raum
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999; 6:44 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON –– After two years of blocking a sweeping global nuclear test ban treaty, Senate Republican leaders reversed course Thursday and abruptly offered to vote next week.

The Clinton administration and Senate Democrats, who have long pushed for such an opportunity, found themselves put off balance by the offer – and apparently short by more than a dozen votes.

Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., announced to the Senate he would take up the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on Oct. 6 and schedule a vote after 10 hours of debate.

But Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., protested that the 10 hours was "totally an insufficient amount of time for a treaty as important as this is," and rejected the overture.

Lott's initiative, supported by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, R-N.C., ruptured the Democratic ranks, with some Democrats urging Daschle to accept the offer.

"Bring it up next week" and let the votes fall where they may, said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., a leading test ban activist. He said the Lott-Helms offer was "all right with me."

Democrats were meeting late Thursday to come up with a counteroffer allowing more time for debate as well as for hearings by Helms' committee.

But it was not clear that Republicans, confident they had enough votes to scuttle the pact, would accept any modification in the timetable they proposed.

The administration reacted cautiously. "We think it is significant that Senator Lott has agreed to bring up the treaty," said David Leavy, a White House national security spokesman.

Leavy added, "It merits the appropriate amount of debate and analysis for the members ... after having this treaty up there for two years."

Helms taunted the Democrats, saying, "The same people clamoring for action go running to the hills. ... If it were not so pitiful, this behavior would be amusing."

The treaty, which calls for an outright ban on nuclear testing, has been signed by 152 nations, including the United States. But it has only been ratified by 47 countries, the most recent Bulgaria on Wednesday.

More significantly, the treaty has been ratified by only 23 of the 44 nuclear-capable countries that must ratify it for it to take effect.

The treaty requires 67 votes, or two-thirds of the Senate.

Even if all 45 Democrats support the treaty, 22 other Republicans must vote "yes" for it to be ratified.

Lack of support for the pact clearly figured into the GOP change of strategy.

Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was hopeful Daschle could negotiate better terms than the total 10 hours offered by Lott for next week.

But if not, Biden suggested it was time to bring the issue to a head. "I'm ready to roll the dice," he said.

Biden said Democrats appear to be about 15 votes short. He suggested that 45 Democrats and seven Republicans currently support the treaty. But, he said, senators still ought to be forced to go on the record.

"I want people to pay a political price" for voting against a treaty that Biden said polls suggest is popular with the public.

He said President Clinton should make an all-out appeal for passage.

Helms has steadfastly refused to hold a hearing on the treaty, submitted by the administration in September 1997, although he told the Senate on Thursday that it had been discussed during at least 14 hearings on related subjects.

Helms' refusal to hold a hearing is part of an unrelated dispute with the administration over two other treaties.

Conservatives contend the pact – which also has not been ratified yet by Russia or China – could threaten U.S. ability to modernize its arsenal if necessary.

Lott called the treaty "bad for the country and dangerous."

Supporters contend the United States already has a vast superiority in nuclear weapons, thanks to more than 1,000 nuclear tests during the Cold War, and the test ban treaty would lock in that superiority.

A conference will be held Oct. 6-8 in Vienna on the panel to consider what measures might be taken to get nonratifying members – including India and Pakistan – to join.

Only nations that ratified the treaty can participate in the conference – leaving the United States without direct influence.