Nation: Coming Closer to SALT II

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Any agreement that is finally worked out will face strong opposition in the U.S. Senate. Though some 40 Senators are believed generally in favor of a new strategic arms pact along the lines that currently seem possible, at least 20 are believed resolutely against it. This raises the ominous possibility of rejection of a treaty by Congress. California's Senator Alan Cranston has gone so far as to say that failure by Congress to ratify a good agreement by the necessary two-thirds majority would be "catastrophic." SALT's foes, led by Senator Henry Jackson, contend, on the other hand, that a bad treaty would have its own catastrophic consequences.