Democratic Lawmakers Reintroduce Bills to Cut Nuclear Weapons Spending

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) reintroduced legislation yesterday in the House and Senate that would cut $100 billion in nuclear weapons spending over the next decade. The lawmakers have previously authored bills similar to the “Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act” since Markey first drafted the legislation in 2012, but the bills have been largely symbolic reflections of efforts to reduce the nation’s nuclear deterrent. “We are robbing America’s future to pay for unneeded weapons of the past,” Markey said in a statement. “The SANE Act cuts the nuclear weapons and delivery systems that we don’t need and will never use so we can invest in the people and programs that will make America safe and prosperous in the future.” 

 

The SANE Act would reduce the B61-12 and cancel the Long-Range Standoff weapon programs, which the lawmakers said would save $7 billion. It would also defer the development of new ICBMs and cut warhead life extension programs, saving $16 billion, and save another $21 billion by canceling the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility and the Uranium Processing Facility. It also would reduce the number of nuclear ballistic missile submarines from 14 to eight and cut the number of planned replacement Ohio Class submarines from 12 to eight, saving $21 billion, the lawmakers said.