March 17, 2014

CURRENT WEAPONS WORK GETS PRIORITY IN HOUSE E&W APPROPS BILL

By ExchangeMonitor

Lawmakers on the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee last week signed off on a $193 million cut to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program while signaling that they planned to preserve work on the agency’s top priority weapons refurbishment work. As the actual bill and report language were released in advance of today’s full committee markup, it became clear that they did that—and more—boosting funding for the B61 (up $23.7 million from the Administration’s $537 million request) and W76 (up $13.1 million from the $248.4 million request) life extension programs while matching the Administration’s $169.5 million request for the W88 Alt 370. Included in the $7.675 billion for the NNSA’s weapons program is also full funding for the Administration’s $325 million request for work on the Uranium Processing Facility.

So where were the cuts? To start, the committee provided $50 million for a continuing study on the W78/W88 interoperable warhead, a cut of $22.7 million, as it prioritized current work over more ambitious efforts to modernize the stockpile. It also cut $40.1 million from the Administration’s request for research and development on certification and safety concepts, and slashed $74.2 million from the management, technology and production, stating that the agency should not fund new development work like maturation of surety, use control and other technology upgrades that are under consideration for use in future life extension work. “The Committee’s recommendation fully funds the increases necessary to support the core requirements to ensure the reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, but limits the amount of funding available to explore new stockpile concepts,” the report accompanying the bill says. “With the high costs associated with extending the life of the W76, B61, and W88 and constructing the Uranium Processing Facility, the Committee cannot support large increases for activities that are not required for stockpile sustainment and must find savings that are available for deficit reduction where they will not impact progress of those high priority activities.”

Comments are closed.