WHITE HOUSE THREATENS TO VETO DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT OVER NEW START LANGUAGE

With the House set to take up its version of the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act today, the White House is threatening to veto the bill if it contains provisions that would link implementation of the New START Treaty with efforts to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex. In a Statement of Administration Policy issued yesterday, the White House outlined the veto threat and raised wide-ranging concerns about a host of other provisions linked to the House’s NNSA reform effort, including language that would eliminate DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security oversight from the weapons complex, increase the autonomy of the agency, and alter the agency’s relationship with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Only the language linking modernization and New START drew the veto threat, however. The Administration said it “strongly objects” to provisions that would “impinge on the President’s ability to implement the New START Treaty and to set U.S. nuclear weapons policy.” The Administration said the bill would “set onerous conditions on the President’s ability to retire, dismantle, or eliminate non-deployed nuclear weapons” and language in the legislation “raises constitutional concerns as it appears to encroach on the President’s authority as Commander in Chief to set nuclear employment policy—a right exercised by every president in the nuclear age from both parties.” 

The Administration said it also “strongly objects” to language that would increase autonomy for the agency. “Some of these changes fundamentally alter the relationship between DOE and NNSA by restricting the authority of the Secretary of Energy and transferring responsibilities from DOE to NNSA,” the Administration said. Language that would require the NNSA to submit a cost-benefit analysis before competing management and operating contracts “would undermine a long-standing and bipartisan effort to increase competition in government contracting,” while language in the bill that would reduce the size of the NNSA’s federal staff also drew concern. “The NNSA is undertaking major, complex efforts to move to a more efficient and effective management of the nuclear security complex while maintaining the safety, security, and effectiveness of our nuclear arsenal. The Administration believes that the NNSA is best positioned to prescribe the proper level of staffing to fulfill those missions effectively within the budget appropriated by the Congress,” the Administration said.