The House Armed Services Committee this morning approved its version of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after about 20 hours of debate.
The annual defense policy bill, now headed to the House floor, authorizes about 4% less funding than sought for active nuclear weapons programs managed by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
At about 7 a.m. Eastern time, the Democrat-led panel passed the legislation on a largely party-line vote of 33-24. Two Republicans broke ranks: Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.).
Meanwhile, the Senate Armed Services Committee, which passed its version of the NDAA in May, on Wednesday morning revealed the text of that measure.
The Senate NDAA would authorize nearly all the spending the White House sought for legacy nuclear weapons cleanup at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, just under $6.5 billion, and about $16.5 billion for active nuclear weapons program at the NNSA.
On the other hand, the House NDAA authorizes some $15.8 billion for the NNSA, plus a little more than $6.5 billion for the Environmental Management office.
Neither bill authorizes the $26 million the White House sought for disposal of defense nuclear waste.
Neither the House nor the Senate had scheduled floor votes for their respective NDAAs at deadline for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. If the bills pass their respective chambers, a final measure will be negotiated in conference.
During committee debate in the House, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) failed in her latest effort to reverse the Democratic majority’s decision to prohibit the Navy from deploying the W76-2 low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead the NNSA is building at the direction of the Donald Trump administration’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review.
Two Cheney amendments to restore W76-2 failed on party-line votes after an hour of debate. One, which would have removed language prohibiting deployment of the weapon, failed 30-26, with one Democrat not voting. A second amendment, which would have allowed deployment and authorized some $25 million in NNSA and Navy spending on the weapon, failed 29-26 with two Democrats absent.
Broadly, the House committee’s bill authorizes less spending than requested for Pentagon procurement of next-generation intercontinental ballistic missiles, and less funding than sought for NNSA production of the warheads and warhead-cores of those weapons. The House NDAA also forbids increased funding to keep the megaton-class B83 nuclear gravity bomb in war-ready shape into the 2020s.
The Senate bill authorizes all nuclear modernization funding requested by the Pentagon and NNSA.
