Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a bill at the end of September with the goal to reduce spending on nuclear weapons, a release on Markey’s website said.
According to Markey’s website, the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act (SANE) would reduce the number of Columbia-class submarines purchased from 12 to eight, cut the fleet of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) from 400 to 150, and reduce the number of deployed warheads from 1,500 to 1,000.
The SANE Act would also cancel development of any new air-launched cruise missile and an associated warhead life extension program, the release said. It would cancel development of new Sentinel ICBMs and a new warhead, cancel development of a new submarine-launched cruise missile, limit plutonium pit production to 30 pits per year, and prohibit development of a new W-93 warhead.
“It is time to halt the proliferation of wasteful nuclear weapons programs and create a future that is safe from the dangers of nuclear conflict. Burning through trillions of dollars to pay for President [Donald] Trump’s pet projects is reckless,” Markey said in a statement.
The release cited the Congressional Budget Office as estimating the U.S.’s nuclear arsenal would cost nearly $1 trillion from 2025 to 2034, and said the bill would “reduce those costs by tens of billions over that time frame.”
This is not the first time Markey and Sanders worked together on a bill. In July, the duo, along with other lawmakers, released the Investing in Children Before Missiles (also abbreviated ICBM) Act of 2025, which would redirect funding from the Sentinel program to the U.S. Department of Education.