After clearing a procedural threshold Monday, the Senate is set to debate its version of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA): a bill that would give the National Nuclear Security Administration the authority to begin work on at least one low-yield nuclear warhead.
The bill was put on the Senate floor last week, but Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) objected to proceeding with debate at that time. That forced a series of parliamentary maneuvers that led to Monday’s vote, when Senators overwhelmingly agreed to begin considering the annual military policy measure.
Like the NDAA the House approved in May, the Senate’s defense policy bill would authorize $65 million in spending on the low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead the Donald Trump administration called for in February in its Nuclear Posture Review.
However, the Senate’s bill would also permit the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to start developing other low-yield warheads as long as it specifically requests funding for the work in future budget proposals. Current law requires Congress to authorize any work on a low-yield weapon beyond conceptual and feasibility studies.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee that wrote the NDAA, has proposed an amendment that would preserve the status quo. Reed said on the Senate floor Monday it would be one of “a series of amendments on the floor” this week.
The Nuclear Posture Review also asked for a study on a future low-yield, sea-launched cruise missile. The administration contends the U.S. needs low-yield weapons to deter Russia from using a similarly powerful weapon to win a conflict it starts, but cannot finish, with conventional weapons. Critics, including congressional Democrats, say the existing U.S. nuclear arsenal is enough to stop Russia from using a low-yield weapon.
“There are some issues where we’re going to have a partisan difference,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), acting chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on the floor Monday.
Overall, the Senate NDAA would authorize some $15 billion for the NNSA for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 The bill would prohibit the agency from closing down the delayed, over-budget Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility under construction at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., until at least 2020.
