Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) and eight other Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee are urging their counterparts in the Senate to “stand by” a commitment to fund the modernization of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex as lawmakers continue to face significant pressure to cut from portions of the plan. In the letter, Turner, the chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, criticized senior Senate appropriators Daniel Inouye, Thad Cochran, Dianne Feinstein and Lamar Alexander for backing off a commitment made during debate on the New START Treaty last year to fund the modernization plan, suggesting that cuts to President Obama’s request for NNSA in the Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act threatened the health of the nation’s nuclear deterrent. “We fully recognize that the fiscal challenges facing our nation have put huge stresses on the federal budget. Action must be taken to bring our debt and deficit under control,” the lawmakers wrote. “However, these challenges must not endanger the ‘long-term commitment’ that has been made for a ‘sustained effort’ to reinvigorate our nuclear deterrent—before it even begins.” Reps. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Mike Rogers (R-La.), John Fleming (R-La.), and Scott Rigell (R-Va.) also signed the letter.
The House lawmakers said it was “particularly disturbing” that $8.3 billion in budget authority transferred from the Department of Defense to the NNSA over the next five years appeared to be going to fund water projects rather than weapons program modernization. They noted that the $11.05 billion provided by Senate appropriators for NNSA last month represented a 10 percent cut to President Obama’s $11.8 billion budget request, while funding for water projects increased 4 percent. “As an off-the-record senior defense official recently said, ‘Secretary Gates wasn’t trying to pay for water projects,’ ” the lawmakers wrote. They acknowledged that House appropriators have cut NNSA’s budget even more than the Senate, but they attributed that to the fact that the House wasn’t consulted on the modernization plan during the debate on the New START Treaty. “We hope that the Senate can take the lead by restoring NNSA Weapons Activities funding in any future FY12 appropriations bills and continuing resolutions; after all, it was an agreement between the Senate and the President that laid the foundation,” they wrote.