House subcommittee would fund NNSA above request, mostly weapons

The National Nuclear Security Administration would get about $25.5 billion, 2% more than requested for fiscal year 2025 and a roughly 5.5% raise year-over-year, if a bill released Thursday becomes law.

Most of the increase proposed by the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee in the first congressional budget recommendation of the year for the nuclear-weapons agency would go to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) bread and butter nuclear weapons programs.

The subcommittee planned to mark up its bill on Friday morning. The markup was to stream live on the subcommittee’s website. The full Appropriations Committee planned to debate and vote on the bill July 9, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), chair of the subcommittee, told the Exchange Monitor this week.

NNSA’s Weapons Activities account would get more than $20 billion if the bill is signed, almost $500 million more than requested and $1.2 billion more than the 2024 appropriation. 

That $1.2 billion accounts for almost all of the roughly $1.3-billion raise the agency would get. Within the weapons account, there is added funding for plutonium pit production and the warhead for a nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile, according to a summary posted online.

The bill also includes about $2.4 billion for defense nuclear nonproliferation and $2.1 billion for naval reactors, $20.3 billion for stockpile modernization 

“Defense programs are prioritized as we modernize the nuclear weapons stockpile in the United States,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), co-chairman of the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Subcommittee, said in an emailed press release. “Now more than ever, we need to lead in cutting-edge research and our nuclear deterrence.”