HOUSE PASSES E&W APPROPS BILL, ADOPTS LANGUAGE LIMITING NUCLEAR REDUCTIONS

By ExchangeMonitor

The House passed the Fiscal Year 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Act by a vote of 227-198 late last night, turning back a handful of amendments aimed at cutting funds from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program but adopting language that would prevent money from being spent on future nuclear reductions that the Senate hasn’t approved through the treaty process. The language was included in an amendment drafted by Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), who has been one of the most vocal critics of President Obama’s recently announced plans to pursue a one-third reduction to the size of the nation’s strategic deployed nuclear arsenal. “The President’s latest proposal would once again call for unilateral reductions in our strategic nuclear arsenal at a time when countries like Russia and China continue to expand and modernize their nuclear arsenals,” Turner said on the House floor last night. “To make matters worse the President has undertaken this most recent effort without the consent of the United States Senate.”

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) voiced opposition to the amendment, suggesting it was unnecessary because no funds in the bill were slated to go to reductions beyond the 1,550-warhead ceiling established by the New START Treaty, but it was adopted by a voice vote. Kaptur said the amendment limits the President’s authority to establish nuclear weapons policy, and by requiring any reductions to come as part of a treaty, it “outsources decisions on U.S. nuclear force structure to Russia and requires maintenance of nuclear force levels that might be costly and unnecessary in an era of budget constraints.” House Republicans also continued to fend off attempts to trim the NNSA weapons budget, rejecting an amendment offered by Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) that would have shifted $100 million from the agency’s weapons account to the Army Corps of Engineers.

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