URGENT! Contact U.S. Republican Senators to Ask Trump to Save the New START Treaty

We have just a few days to ensure the last remaining arms control treaty between the United States and Russia continues with its numerical cap of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear weapons for each country.  The New START treaty is set to expire after Wednesday, February 4^th.  Please contact Republican U.S. Senators. Request that President Trump respond to President Putin’s proposal to informally extend the treaty for one year.  https://www.senate.gov/senators/

Without this treaty, there will be nothing to stop a new, dangerous and wasteful nuclear arms race. The consequences could be deadly: the United States and Russia will likely upload multiple warheads onto land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, which would be deeply destabilizing. We have limited time to Save New START.  https://www.state.gov/new-start-treaty

Reuters is reporting that Russia is still waiting for the United States to respond to President Putin’s proposal made last fall to informally extend the treaty for one year.

What you can do:  Go to https://defusenuclearwar.org/save-new-start , a coalition of more than 200 organizations and organizers dedicated to reducing the risk of nuclear war. It has created an informative social media toolkit to get the word out.

Now is the time for your advocacy to Save the New START Treaty.  Five key messages are:

1. After February 4, 2026, New START – the last remaining arms control treaty between the United States and Russia – will expire. Without these limits, there will be nothing to impede a new arms race, which would further increase the risk that nuclear weapons will be used again.
2. Nuclear weapons built by the United States and Russia are already more than capable of destroying civilization as we know it. Together, the two countries hold around a 90 percent share of the world’s nuclear arsenals.
3. This is a small, easy step in the right direction. Both President Trump and leading Russian government officials have expressed willingness to extend this treaty’s limits.
4. We can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. An extension of New START would be an easy, mutually beneficial step at a moment when the United States and Russia see their interests as opposed across the board.
5. The path to peace is taking concrete steps toward making conflict less likely.

If you feel more comfortable writing about the need to extend the New START Treaty, Defuse Nuclear War has a sample letter to the editor for you to use at https://defusenuclearwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/New-START-toolkit.pdf

1. Friday, January 30^th from noon to 1 pm – Join the nuclear disarmament community at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval in Santa Fe for the weekly peaceful protest in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners.

2. Join informal INFO/ORGANIZING SESSIONS to learn how to respond to the v.

Friday January 30, 2026 – noon to 1 pm eastern; 10 am – 11 am mountain

Organizing with Mary and Jim Lampert –speaking on the impacts to their community that NRC changing the rules to allow more radiation exposure and more radioactive pollution from Pilgrim Nuclear Reactor near Plymouth MA, and its wastes.

The new radiation rules could be 5–100 times less protective, and likely still based on Reference Man.

REGISTER HERE:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/WUtzuuBgQcmdTcNpA44AYA

Thursday February 5, 2026 – 2 to 3 pm eastern; noon to 1 pm mountain

INFO on the Executive Order and the NRC Rulemaking

Story of the restart of the Duane Arnold reactor in Iowa and how more radiation will impact

Cindy Folkers Beyond Nuclear, Diane D’Arrigo NIRS, Wally Taylor, Sierra Club Iowa Chapter

REGISTER HERE:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4vJ0kpyUSWSgsEMr4R-6rw

For more information and additional opportunities to participate in the informal INFO/ORGANIZING SESSIONS: https://www.radiationproject.org/online, https://www.nirs.org/radiation, https://beyondnuclear.org/health-impacts/

3. Friday, January 30^th at 2 pm at Civic Plaza – ABQ: Stand With Minnesota – ICE Out! National Day of Action: Shut Down Albuquerque.  https://www.facebook.com/abqpsl/

Join the Friday Forum at 6:30 pm at the ABQ Party for Socialism and Liberation, 225 San Pedro Dr. NE, ABQ at https://www.findaprotest.info/event/albuquerque/evt-2213f8bf35747d6b

4. Sunday, February 1^st at 6 pm local time in front of VA Medical Centers – Nationwide Vigil for Alex Pretti. For VA locations in New Mexico, go to https://www.va.gov/new-mexico-health-care/locations/

5. Monday, February 2^nd – New Mexico Acequia Association Day and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Day at the New Mexico State Capitol. https://lasacequias.org/

6. Thursday, February 5^th from 4 to 7 pm (in person, by zoom, or by phone) – The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) is holding its first public comment hearing on Blackstone’s proposed takeover of PNM. This is a critical opportunity for New Mexicans to speak directly to regulators about what’s at stake.  For more information and talking points:  https://www.nmconsumerprotection.org/ and https://www.nmconsumerprotection.org/take-action-stop-blackstone

Tags: Defuse Nuclear War, Defuse Nuclear War Toolkit, letters to the editor, Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty, No New Arms Race, Russia, Save the New START Treaty, United States