WASHINGTON — The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee predicted Monday that nuclear-arsenal modernization will be “the most contentious issue” in the 2021 defense-spending debates beginning now on Capitol Hill.
“[T]his is an enormous challenge,” Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said in response to moderator questions during a morning talk at the Brookings Institute.
With modernization spending in 2021 only starting to creep toward a projected peak later this decade — the total program will cost more than $1 trillion over 30 years — the staunchly pro-nuclear Republican staked out a position sure to put him at odds with his college, Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.): that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) may be strapped for cash, even as it sits on billions of dollars in unspent appropriations and seeks a big budget increase.
The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency seeks a $19.8 billion budget for fiscal 2021, 20% above the 2020 appropriation of $16.7 billion. The agency is also holding on to some $8 billion in unspent appropriations from 2019, most of which has been earmarked for nuclear weapons and infrastructure modernization. The request for the coming fiscal year was so large that, to meet it, the White House said the Navy will have to make do with funds to start building one Virginia-class attack submarine, instead of the two the service wanted.
Even so, Thornberry said money “very well could be” an issue for the NNSA, which is preparing to build an essentially new nuclear weapons production complex to replace aging or demolished facilities from the Cold War or earlier.
His appearance was a table-setter of sorts for a hearing scheduled Tuesday in the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, in which NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty is scheduled to testify about the larger-than-expect budget request from the civilian nuclear weapons steward.
Gordon-Hagerty is scheduled to follow up that appearance with testimony before the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee on Wednesday afternoon.
