House Dem Urges Supercommittee To Look At Nukes

Rep. 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 

Cold War nuclear facilities hammered and sickled out

The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces held a hearing to consider the National Nuclear Security Administration’s plan for modernizing the nuclear weapons complex. Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) said the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which maintains the nation’s nuclear weapons, is very successful, but its maintenance is scarcely considered. She said that as facilities of the Manhattan Project era crumble, America’s nuclear policies require updating.

Thomas D’Agostino, Under Secretary for Nuclear Security at the National Nuclear Security Administration said the U.S. is the only nuclear-armed state that is not modernizing its facilities. He said the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile was reduced by half during the Bush administration, so facilities need to be modernized and streamlined. He said a single planned facility in Tennessee would replace several aging Cold War era buildings. He said outdated facilities that handle Uranium and Plutonium pose safety concerns and are very expensive to maintain due to their large sizes. The NNSA plans to build new facilities to reduce square footage and increase efficiency.