House Democrats Plan Legislative Action Tomorrow on U.S. Nuclear Weapons Budget

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives last week delayed debating two Bush administration nuclear weapons budget request items included in the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill during a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing, choosing instead to tackle the issue during a full committee hearing scheduled for tomorrow, according to Defense Daily (see GSN, May 7).

The bill contains a $27 million request to conduct feasibility studies for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator and seeks $9 million for advanced concept initiatives that could include low-yield nuclear weapons, according to Defense Daily. While criticizing the funding requests during a Strategic Forces Subcommittee markup hearing, Representative Sylvestre Reyes (D-Texas) did not offer any amendments to the bill on the issue.

“I expect this will be a full committee issue,” he said.

The Senate Armed Services Committee last week approved its version of the bill, Defense Daily reported. Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.), however, criticized the funding requests.

“There’s no military requirement for any of these weapons,” Reed said. “This is more ideological than strategic,” he added (Sharon Weinberger, Defense Daily, May 11).

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