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Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen all played their part in soliciting votes.
Six former Republican secretaries of state and former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, among others, threw their weight behind the treaty signed by Obama in April with Medvedev, which caps the deployed nuclear warheads in each state to no more than 1,550 over seven years, a cut of 30 percent over the current ceiling of 2,200 set in 2002, limits the number of deployed ballistic missiles and nuclear bombers to no more than 700 each, and sets up a mechanism for verification and inspection.
Opponents alleged that the treaty offers too many concessions to Russia, weakens U.S. ability to employ missile defense technology and has insufficient procedures to verify Russia's adherence.
Since debate began last Wednesday, some Republicans have sought to defeat the treaty with delay and "treaty-killer" amendments to the preamble or text by filing more than seventy amendments. But the Democrats garnered 11 Republican votes on Tuesday to end debate and bring full vote on the treaty.
If delayed until early January when the new Congress opens, the pact is sure to face a dim outlook in the Senate as the Democrats' strength there is reduced from 58-42 to 53-47.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Interfax news agency on Monday that ratification of the arms pact would "give a powerful impulse" to Russia-U.S. ties.
The Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma, said it may follow suit before the end of the year if the treaty is passed in Washington.
"The treaty will strengthen U.S.-Russia relations, which is essential for our efforts to prevent Iran from getting the bomb and to build a strong international coalition to stop nuclear proliferation worldwide," Burt said in his statement.