Fate of Russian arms treaty remains up in the air

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate's second-ranking Democratic leader thinks there are enough votes to ratify a nuclear arms treaty with Russia before year's end.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin says "we need to bring this to a vote" during the waning days of the postelection session of Congress.

But the No. 2 Senate GOP leader, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, says "this treaty needs to be fixed" and there's not enough time to do it.

The accord - known as New START - would limit each country's strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, down from the current ceiling of 2,200, and establish a system for monitoring and verification. U.S. weapons inspections ended a year ago with the expiration of a 1991 treaty.

Senate debate is expected to resume later Sunday.