The Senate Armed Service Committee’s version of the fiscal 2024 defense authorization bill includes $24.1 billion for nuclear defense programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration, almost exactly in line with a House committee’s version of the bill.
The Senate Armed Services Committee on Friday said its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2024 provides $32.4 billion for the Department of Energy nuclear programs, slightly less than the $32.5 billion requested for fiscal 2024. Of that, just over $24 billion would go to the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The House Armed Services Committee’s version of the bill provides $23.8 billion for the NNSA. Both bills are now set for consideration by the full chambers, which as of Monday had left town for a July 4 recess and were not scheduled to return to Washington until the week of July 10.
In a statement, the Senate Armed Services Committee said its version of the bill supports “the modernization of the United States’ nuclear forces, including the nuclear triad and programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).”
Among other things, the Senate and House committees agreed on funding the development of a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile. The House included $70 million in its NDAA, where the Biden administration in its 2024 budget request included no funding for the weapon, which it sees as redundant to existing submarine-launched nuclear weapons.
The Senate’s version of the bill “establishes and fully funds a joint DOD-NNSA program to develop a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile to address China’s nuclear breakout and Russia’s continued aggression,” according to an explainer on the bill posted June 23 to the committee’s website.
The Senate-side bill also provides funding for the sea-lunched variant of the W80-4 warhead the missile will carry and requires both programs to reach initial operational capability by fiscal year 2035. .
The Senate committee’s bill authorizes increased funding for the LGM-35A Sentinel, and would require that the Air Force “refurbish and make operable no fewer than 150 silos for intercontinental ballistic missiles at each of the relevant bases.” It also provides multiyear and advance procurement authority for the Sentinel program and requires the certification of a long-term capability to maintain and modernize the guidance system of the missile over its full life cycle.”
The Senate committee’s version of the NDAA requires continued construction of the conventional high explosives manufacturing facility at the Pantex Plant in Texas “for the unique conventional high explosives used at the NNSA” as well as a research facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in support of the Pantex facility.
Senators also aim to increase oversight of NNSA weapon programs by prescribing a slew of reports on various modernization efforts.
Among other reports on fissile material security and supply chain management, it also directs a report on “contracting, procurement, construction, and material acquisition including further application of the Defense Production Act for recapitalization of the nuclear security enterprise.”
