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Republican Lawmakers Denounce U.S. Nuclear Weapon Development
An influential Republican congressman and erstwhile White House ally has denounced the Bush administration’s plan to conduct research into new types of nuclear weapons for the U.S. arsenal, the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 24). Congress recently lifted a decade-old ban on research into low-yield nuclear weapons and allocated more than $6 million for the effort. “I’m totally offended by this administration,” said Representative Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), the second ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. “I happen to think they’re out of bounds on this. There’s an important sea change in the world, and we have no idea what our policy is. It’s a major scandal in the making,” he added. Other usually hawkish Republican lawmakers agreed with Weldon, who described himself as “totally frustrated” with the move, the Chronicle reported. “We have more nuclear weapons now than we know what to do with,” said Representative David Hobson (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee, which controls the nuclear weapons appropriations. “I’m concerned about our image in the world when we’re telling others not to build these things, and then we push these new programs,” he added. Representative Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), also a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the United States does not need new nuclear weapons. “We cause more harm than good in our relations with other countries and in our moral position on nuclear proliferation,” he said. Linton Brooks, the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, applauded the recent congressional efforts. “This has been a good year,” he said, “I’m pretty happy we essentially got what we wanted.” Brooks said the new research represents “a more fundamental shift in the way we look at this than many people realize” (James Sterngold, San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 7).
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