GOP SENATORS URGE APPROPRIATORS TO BOOST NNSA FUNDING

Three Senate Republicans took to Politico yesterday to urge the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee to boost funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program. In an April 22 commentary, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) suggested that the appropriations panel—which marks up the Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations Act this week—could fund the Obama Administration’s original nuclear modernization plan through “savings derived from administrative reform,” using a $125 million transfer authority from the Defense Department that has not been executed, and shifting money from other programs. The modernization plan originally called for approximately $7.9 billion in FY2013, about $370 million more than the Administration’s $7.58 billion request. “Congress has an opportunity to restore the funding and schedule for the nuclear modernization plan,” the Senators wrote. “It is important that we do so—not only to maintain a strong nuclear deterrent but also, as the chairman of the Senate Strategic Forces Subcommittee said last week, ‘to safely reduce the number of deployed nuclear weapons. We must, at a minimum, ensure our infrastructure can maintain these fewer numbers of weapons so they are safe, secure and military effective.’ ” The full piece is available by clicking here.