Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

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Senate Democrats Propose 7-Month Continuing Resolution

Last Friday, Senate Democrats released a summary of their version of a Continuing Resolution for the rest of FY 2011 that would cut $51 billion from the President’s FY 2011 request compared to the $100 billion that the House cut in HR 1.

The Senate CR proposes $2.327 billion for the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation account, which is $360 million below the FY 2011 request but nearly $300 million more than HR 1. The bill summary states that this level of funding maintains U.S. efforts to secure vulnerable nuclear materials in 4 years.

I have not seen a figure for the Defense Department’s Cooperative Threat Reduction program or the State Department’s nuclear security programs.  The draft Senate CR funds the Pentagon base budget at $513.6 billion and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at $157.8 billion for a total of $671.3 billion. That total is $17.3 billion less than the President’s request and $2.1 billion less than HR 1.

Also of note, the Senate CR provides $6.824 billion for NNSA’s weapons activities account, which is $185 million below the FY 2011 request but over $120 million more than HR 1.

The Senate will hold stand-alone votes on both HR 1 and the Senate Democratic alternative this week (probably tomorrow), both of which are likely to fail to achieve cloture.  Negotiations will then begin on a full year CR.  However the House and the Senate may not be able to reconcile their differences before the current two week CR expires on March 18, meaning there will likely be yet another short term CR to fund the government through the rest of March.

The Senate proposal for the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation account is an improvement over the House proposal, but it is still not enough. The number in the draft Senate CR is likely to be the high-water mark for NNSA’s nonproliferation budget for the next two years unless the administration and members of Congress make a strong push for the full FY2011 request.

Quote of the Day: Fissile Materials Edition

“If we are serious about reducing the possibility that fissile material could fall into terrorists’ hands, then we must reduce the amount of such material that is available.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Remarks at the Conference on Disarmament, Geneva Switzerland, February 28, 2011

Right on, Madam Secretary.

I suppose it’s safe to assume that if the White House is serious about preventing fissile material from falling into terrorists’ hands, then it’s pulling out all the stops to persuade Congress to fund critical nuclear security programs to lesson the likelihood that fissile material falls into terrorists’ hands. Right?

FY 2011 and FY 2012 Budgets for Nuclear Security

by Kingston Reif By Kingston Reif and Patricia Morris The international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials and keep our nation safe from nuclear terrorism is at a crossroads. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, the President’s budget request and Congressional appropriations for threat reduction programs did not reflect the urgency of the threat. Funding […]