August 18, 2014

Senators Call on Administration to Boost Nonproliferation Spending

By ExchangeMonitor

A bipartisan group of 26 Senators remains upset with the Obama Adminstration’s commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and is asking the Administration to request more funding for nuclear security work in Fiscal Year 2016. Led by Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the Senators criticized the Administration for reducing nonproliferation funds in recent years as President Obama’s four-year goal to secure vulnerable nuclear materials around the world wound down. The Administration requested $1.55 billion in FY 2015 for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation account, a $399 million reduction that the Senators noted threatens to slow key nuclear security work.

Led by Feinstein, Senate appropriators provided $1.98 billion for NNSA nonproliferation work in FY 2015, an increase of $422.8 million. “Reducing budgets for agencies and programs that help keep nuclear and radiological materials out of the hands of terrorists is out of sync with the high priority that the President has rightly placed on nuclear and radiological material security and signals a major retreat in the effort to lock down these materials at an accelerated rate,” the Senators wrote in the Aug. 13 letter to White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan. “The recent spate of terrorism in Iraq, Pakistan, and Kenya is a harrowing reminder of the importance of ensuring that terrorist groups and rogue states cannot get their hands on the world’s most dangerous weapons and materials.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was the lone Republican to sign the letter.

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