The House of Representatives will not debate its version of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) until after the Fourth of July, but lawmakers have already proposed several pro- and anti-nuclear amendments to the annual defense policy bill.
Lawmakers proposed their amendments Tuesday to the House Rules Committee. The panel plans to set the terms for debate by the full House, including which amendments will be allowed on the floor, the week of July 8.
The House Armed Services Committee approved its NDAA in mid-June. The bill would slow development of new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) and ban the Navy from deploying a new low-yield nuclear warhead.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), ranking Republican on the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, proposed an amendment to un-ban deployment of the low-yield W76-2 warhead on the Trident II-D5 missiles carried by the Navy’s Ohio-class submarines, based on certification by the secretary of defense. The amendment would also require the defense secretary to certify whether the United States already has a nuclear weapon that provides the deterrent effect the Donald Trump administration says requires the W76-2.
The White House says the U.S. needs a low-yield nuclear weapon capable of a quick and assured strike deep in enemy territory to prevent Russia from using a similarly powerful weapon to quickly win a war that could not be won using conventional weapons. House Democrats say the existing U.S. nuclear arsenal is sufficient to deter the Kremlin.
The NNSA says it is using its 2019 funding to convert a “small number” of high-yield W76-1 warheads into W76-2 warheads. The agency has $65 million for the work this fiscal year.
Meanwhile, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) proposed an amendment that would forbid authorization of over $44 million in 2020 funding that the Pentagon seeks to demonstrate and validate technology needed for current and future ICBMs.
The development Tlaib wants to defund is not part of the ongoing competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman to design the nuclear-tipped Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent missile the Pentagon wants to deploy in 2030 to replace the current silo-based fleet of Minuteman III nuclear ICBMs.
The nonprofit Arms Control Association has estimated the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent procurement could cost $100 billion. This year, the Air Force said the program’s price tag will rise. The service plans to procure more than 600 next-generation missiles and deploy some 400.
Separately, and within the Department of Energy, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) proposed an amendment that would allow the National Nuclear Security Administration, or any of its management and operations contractors, to lease buildings over a long-term period from “any person” for use office or warehouse space, or for “light laboratory use.”
Such leases, which could go up to 30 years, would be allowed “without regard to whether the building exists or is being constructed by the lessor,” if Lujan’s amendment passes. Lujan’s congressional district includes the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Lujan proposed another amendment that would require all contractors running National Nuclear Security Administration sites to “adopt generally accepted and consistent accounting practices for laboratory, plant or site directed research and development.”
The House NDAA is on a collision course with the Senate version, which the upper chamber passed Thursday. The measure authorizes all the 2020 funding the White House sought for Department of Energy and Pentagon nuclear programs.
Meanwhile, several Democrats, including House Armed Services Chair Adam Smith (D-Wash.), have proposed an amendment that would restore $20 million in funding to research the use of low-enriched uranium as fuel for naval warships and submarines.
Freshman Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), a Navy veteran whose district includes the naval hub in Norfolk, Va., stripped the $20 million out of the House NDAA during a committee markup earlier in June.
Overall, the House NDAA authorizes $15.8 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration: about 4% less funding than requested, but an increase of about 4.5%, from the enacted 2019 budget.
