FCNL, Other Groups Urge Armed Service Committee To Cut Funding for Nuclear Weapons

On May 8, FCNL joined 14 other arms control organizations to call on members of the House Armed Services committee to to support two amendments to the defense authorization bill in advance of the committee's mark-up of the bill on May 9. The two amendments would save hundreds of billions of dollars in spending on nuclear weapons. Read the letter below.

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May 8, 2012

Dear Member of the Armed Services Committee,

The bill before you is among the most extreme defense authorization bills to ever be considered by the House Armed Services Committee.

It threatens to prevent U.S. military leaders from taking common sense steps to put America’s nuclear posture on a post-Cold War footing. It also adds billions of dollars in unneeded military spending.

While we do not know all of the amendments that will be offered, two amendments we urge you to support are:

Sanchez amendment to reduce by $323 million the nuclear weapons activities account of the National Nuclear Security Administration.

1. The amendment would reduce this account to the administration’s request.

2. This is the amount that both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have adopted for FY 2013—without dissent.

3. The increased spending in the McKeon/Turner bill cannot be sustained under the Budget Control Act, which is why NNSA has stretched out several major projects.

Garamendi amendment to strike a provision that requires building a missile defense site on the East Coast.

1. The facility would cost billions of dollars.

2. Iran has no nuclear weapons today and has no land-based missiles capable of reaching the United States.

3. The Defense Department does not support this proposal.

4. The proposal has more to do with the 2012 elections than it does national security.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director
Arms Control Association

Katie Heald, Coordinator
Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World

William D. Hartung, Director, Arms and Security Project
Center for International Policy

John Isaacs, Executive Director
Council for a Livable World

David Culp, Legislative Representative
Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers)

Dr. Paul F. Walker, Director of Security and Sustainability
Global Green USA

Christopher Paine, Nuclear Program Director
Natural Resources Defense Council

Jay Coghlan, Executive Director
Nuclear Watch New Mexico

Kevin Martin, Executive Director
Peace Action

Jon Rainwater, Executive Director
Peace Action West

Catherine Thomasson, MD, Executive Director
Physicians for Social Responsibility

Don Hancock, Nuclear Program Director
Southwest Research and Information Center, Albuquerque, NM

Marylia Kelley, Executive Director
Tri-Valley CAREs, Livermore, CA

Lisbeth Gronlund, Senior Scientist and Co-Director, Global Security Program
Union of Concerned Scientists

Catherine M. Kelleher, College Park Professor
University of Maryland