The House Appropriations defense subcommittee was set to mark up the first draft of the Pentagon’s fiscal 2023 budget on Wednesday, and the bill contains no funding for the nuclear-tipped Sea Launched Cruise Missile, according to a summary the subcommittee released Tuesday morning.
The legislation, telegraphed in March by the recommendation in President Joe Biden’s still-unpublished nuclear posture review recommended to cancel the weapon, formally draws battle lines for debate in Congress, where Republicans in both chambers have said they will not support cancellation of the proposed low-yield weapon.
The nuclear-tipped Sea Launched Cruise Missile would use a variation of the W80-4 warhead the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is preparing for the Long Range Standoff weapon, the next-generation, nuclear-tipped air-launched cruise missile the Air Force hopes to deploy around 2030.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is still working on adapting the W80-4 for a sea-launched missile, but funding for the effort runs only through Sept. 30, the last day of the 2022 fiscal year. The White House did not request further funding for the adaptation for 2023.
Like the Appropriations defense subcommittee, the House Armed Services Committee decided to follow the President’s lead and authorize no funding for the sea-launched cruise missile in its 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate Armed Services Committee, however, voted to authorize funding for the missile again in its own 2023 authorization bill. Authorization bills set spending limits for appropriations bills.
Meanwhile, the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee was set to mark up its fiscal year 2023 budget bill June 21. The measure will contain the subcommittee’s proposed budget for the entire Department of Energy, plus the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that oversees civilian nuclear power plants.
