March 17, 2014

HOUSE GOP LINKS B61, GTRI FUNDING DURING MARKUP

By ExchangeMonitor

Concerned about possible schedule slips on the B61 life extension program, House Republicans yesterday tied progress on the refurbishment effort to one of the Obama Administration’s signature nonproliferation program during a markup of the Fiscal Year 2014 Defense Authorization Act. While also fending off attempts by Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee to roll back a funding increase for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program and reverse several reform provisions, the panel adopted an amendment by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) that would fence off 20 percent of funding for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative in FY 2014 if the Administration is unable to certify that the NNSA is on track to complete a First Production Unit for the refurbished nuclear bomb by 2019 no more than 60 days after the bill is enacted. “To make sure that they have the proper incentive to follow through on this we would withhold funds from another one of their programs if they are lagging in meeting this requirement,” Lamborn said. “Hopefully this would never have to take effect and they would be prompted and diligent in carrying out the responsibilities we’ve given them.” Democrats on the committee opposed the amendment, but it passed by a vote of 33-29. The link between the B61 refurbishment and GTRI, which leads efforts to secure vulnerable nuclear material around the world, “doesn’t quite equate,” Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) said. “That’s a bad equation, one that really puts us at risk. I understand why you want to get the B61 done but don’t do it at the expense of reducing the loose nuke threat.”

Democrats on the panel also took aim at Republican efforts to increase funding for the NNSA’s weapons program in FY 2014. The committee authorized $8.1 billion for the program, a $220 million increase over the Administration’s $7.9 billion request and nearly as much as the Administration said it planned to spend during FY 2014 during debate on the New START Treaty. The increase would provide additional funding for life extension programs on the W76, B61, and the W78/W88 as well as a variety of other NNSA modernization efforts, but Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) argued that the Administration said its $7.9 billion request was sufficient. “I think it’s just prudent for us to be able to say that there are places where we shouldn’t be throwing money, and this is an area where would the Administration has said there’s sufficient amounts to get the work done during the year,” Sanchez said. Republicans on the committee emphasized that the funding increase brought the weapons program in line with increases promised during the New START Treaty, and the amendment was defeated by a vote of 35-27. “Our nuclear weapons have decaying pits … and some of the materials in these warheads have deteriorated or they are based on obsolete technology like transistors and they don’t have the security safeguards built into them,” Lamborn said, adding: “This is almost getting dangerous.”

Republicans on the panel also fended off Democratic amendments that would have removed provisions in the bill giving the Secretary of Energy the authority to fire federal employees that endanger the security of special nuclear material or classified information, expanded the NNSA’s Kansas City Plant oversight model to other sites, required the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to perform a cost-benefit analysis on some of its recommendations, and struck approximately $70 million in authorized funding to implement the New START Treaty in FY 2014. Democrats were successful in increasing authorized funding in FY 2014 for the GTRI program to $447.5 million, a boost of $23 million, with the reduction coming from the NNSA’s International Material Protection and Cooperation Account.

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