House Dem Urges Supercommittee To Look At Nukes
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:52PMRep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) called on the Super Committee at a news conference on Tuesday to make extensive cuts from the U.S. nuclear weapons budget over the next decade.
“The Soviets are long gone yet the stock piles remain,” Markey said, pointing out that there are currently 5,000 nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile that cost American tax payers $50 billion every year.
“That makes no sense,” Markey declared.
When asked by TRNS about the very real threat of Iran developing nuclear weapons, he passed the question along to General Robert Gard Jr., chairman of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
“We are not going to stop Iran from enriching Uranium by maintaing 5000 nuclear weapons in your stockpile,” Gard explained. “Getting down to 1000 nuclear weapons to deploy ought to be a sufficient warning to them that they probably ought not to imploy the weapons should they develop it.”
“We cannot make ourself any safer with more nuclear weapons,” Markey added. “America needs another nuclear weapon as much as Lady Gaga needs another outfit.”
Markey advocated that the “excess” money used for nuclear weapons would be better utilized in funding for cancer and heart disease research institutions, healthcare for senior citizens and child nutrition programs.
65 members of the House of Representatives have joined with Markey in this effort to cut $20 billion annually from the nuclear weapons program so that $200 billion could be used for funding family programs.
“Simply put,” Markey concluded, “we must freeze the nukes and fund the future.”
Click here to see photos from today’s news conference