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Senator Markey and Rep. Blumenauer introduce Bill to cut $73 billion from USA’s bloated nuclear weapons budget.

SENATOR MARKEY AND REP. BLUMENAUER ANNOUNCE LEGISLATION TO CUT $73 BILLION FROM BLOATED NUCLEAR WEAPONS BUDGET   United States slotted to spend $1.5 – $2 trillion on upgrading its nuclear arsenal over the next thirty years

Washington (May 24, 2021) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congressman Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) today reintroduced the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act, which would cancel or reduce nuclear weapons programs over the next decade and generate at least $73 billion in cost savings. This legislation would restore budget sanity and advance U.S. national security by cutting redundant and destabilizing nuclear programs, and factoring in affordability analysis into programs, a course of action recommended by the Government Accountability Office. 

Upgrading and maintaining nuclear warheads and their associated infrastructure through FY2046 is anticipated to cost $1.7 trillion, adjusted for inflation, forcing tradeoffs in other areas of the U.S. discretionary budget.“President Biden can create a future safe from nuclear weapons, not for them, by stopping production of unnecessary nuclear weapons acquisition programs,” said Senator Markey. “The United States can deter our adversaries and reassure our  allies without making an insane investment in nuclear weapons overkill, including capabilities that may invite rather than prevent a nuclear exchange. While President Trump’s actions tilted the ‘Doomsday Clock’ towards midnight, President Biden has a chance to build back a better nuclear weapons policy that does more with less. We must bring the same energy in arresting the climate crisis to reducing another existential threat – that posed by nuclear weapons – and that begins with smart cuts to our nuclear arsenal.”

“These disastrous weapons will never be the answer to solving our complex and ever-changing national security threats,” said Rep. Blumenauer. “We should not be investing trillions of dollars of our budget on an outdated and irresponsible nuclear arsenal. There are far more important programs and initiatives that will actually help and protect the American people. This legislation will put us on the path towards a safer, nuclear-free future.” A copy of the SANE Act can be found HERE. The legislation is co-sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Representatives Jared Huffman (CA-02), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Peter DeFazio (OR-04), and Jan Schakowsky (IL-09).

CBO estimates that the current plans for nuclear modernization would cost $494 billion through FY2028; the proposed cuts to these plans could reduce those estimates by at least $73 billion over the same number of years. The Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Actwill prohibit the fielding of so-called “low-yield” warheads, prohibit space-based missile defense, remove the nuclear mission from the F-35 and reduce the purchase of Columbia-class submarines from 12 to eight, cut the existing ICBM fleet from over 400 to 150, and reduce deployed strategic warheads from approximately 1,500 to 1,000 – saving at least $13.6 billion.

Additionally, the bill would:

Cancel the development of a new air-launched cruise missile and an associated warhead life extension program – saving $13.3 billion.Cancel the development of new ICBMs and a new nuclear warhead – saving at least $13.6 billion.Cancel the development of a new submarine-launched cruise missile – saving $9 billion.Limit the plutonium pit production target to 30 per year – saving $9 billion.Prohibit funding for a nuclear processing facility – saving $2.6 billion.Retire the B83-1 megaton bomb as previously planned – saving $4.4 billion.

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  Prohibit development of the new W-93 warhead – saving $7.5 billion (half of the estimated total acquisition cost according to NNSA).

The legislation is endorsed by Beyond the Bomb, Massachusetts Peace Action, the Ploughshares Fund, Peace Action, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and the Arms Control Association……………https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-markey-and-rep-blumenauer-announce-legislation-to-cut-73-billion-from-bloated-nuclear-weapons-budget

May 25, 2021 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA, weapons and war