The House Armed Services Committee markup of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) extended into the evening Wednesday, with amendments under consideration that involved funding shifts that would boost spending on certain nuclear nonproliferation research and development and dismantlement activities.
One amendment offered under the Strategic Forces Subcommittee mark would block $10 million worth of Department of Defense support to the Executive Office of the President until the president submits to Congress an update to plans on verification and monitoring of nuclear weapons and material proliferation. Another called for a reduction in federal salaries and expenses related to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) atomic energy defense activities by $20 million, and a corresponding increase by the same amount for defense nuclear nonproliferation research and development.
One amendment that did not pass offered an increase in the timeline for a Congressional Budget Office review of nuclear weapons cost estimates from a 10-year to 30-year period. Additionally, an amendment in opposition to the cap on accelerated weapons dismantlement funding sought to decrease federal salaries and expenses by $14 million at the NNSA and put that amount toward operations and maintenance for weapons dismantlement and disposition.
The full committee on Wednesday adopted subcommittee reports as amended during last week’s round of markups, and had just begun considering amendments to the chairman’s mark by press time. The Strategic Forces Subcommittee previously proposed in its NDAA mark a requirement that construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site continue unless certain conditions are met, and that weapons dismantlement funds be capped to avoid funding accelerated dismantlement. Amendments previously passed in the subcommittee included reporting requirements on U.S. and Russian military capabilities. The chairman’s mark released Monday said no atomic energy defense funds could be used for contracts with Russia as long as the U.S. maintains a deferred maintenance backlog. The Senate is scheduled to begin considering its version of the NDAA on May 9.