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Despite Obama’s $billions spent on nuclear weapons, his opponents want more

there are a vocal few who consistently argue that whatever funding is provided for the nuclear security complex simply won’t be enough

Nukes Forever: Barack Obama is spending billions to maintain and upgrade America’s nuclear weapons. But his opponents say it’s not enough. Will they ever be satisfied?  Foreign Policy, BY PAGE VAN DER LINDEN | AUGUST 13, 2010“………the nuclear warhead “modernization” debate, which is now becoming a point of contention in the political battle over the ratification of President Barack Obama’s new strategic arms treaty with Russia, known as New START.  As we’ll see, the treaty’s opponents have created the false impression that Obama isn’t doing enough to maintain America’s fearsome nuclear arsenal, when in fact he’s throwing billions into the effort — even, arguably, expanding it despite his pledge to work toward a world free of nuclear weapons…………
Many lawmakers, as well as the Obama administration, have thus made the argument that strengthening the Life Extension Programs and providing $80 billion over 10 years for the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan and all associated facilities within the nuclear weapons complex is the most sensible way to answer the “modernization” question. The unclassified version of the Section 1251 report, as well as the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan, reflect this.
But there are a vocal few who consistently argue that whatever funding is provided for the nuclear security complex simply won’t be enough. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) is the loudest of these opposing voices. After he and several other Republican senators paid a visit to Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories at the end of July, he held a news conference on Capitol Hill in which he demanded $10 billion more on top of all the funding that has already been proposed by the Obama administration………..

Clearly, the Obama administration has seen to it that the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal will be funded, maintained, and even expanded over the next 10 years.

So, why isn’t this enough for the opposition? Presumably, the only thing that will mollify Kyl and others would be new warheads……..

Obama spends billions on nuclear weapons – By Page van der Linden | Foreign Policy

August 13, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons