Don’t Bomb Iran

A Congress subcommittee on strategic forces voted to slow the Reliable Replacement Warhead program and cut $764 million from missile defense programs. Although only the start of the allocations process, they called for commissions to evaluate posture, the need for new warheads, and the politics of Bush’s wish to deploy Star Wars in Europe (which was cut by 50%, to $150 million). Cuts to the Bush’s replacement warhead and new nuclear weapons factories were also made. Critical of Star Wars testing program, the chair of the commitee said “I wish when I was in school that I could have made up the test, given myself the test and then graded it,”

U.S. House Panel Cuts Funds for Missile Defense, New Warhead

By WILLIAM MATTHEWS

May 2. 2007

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2730267&C=america

A U.S. House Armed Services subcommittee voted to slow the Reliable Replacement Warhead program and cut $764 million from missile defense programs during a budget-writing session May 2.

Led by Rep. Ellen Tauscher, the Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee cut $1.3 billion from the $52.7 billion President George W. Bush requested for nuclear weapons, space and missile defense programs for 2008.

Amid the $51.4 billion left, the subcommittee shifted spending from higher-risk, future programs to more proven programs that meet immediate military needs, Tauscher said.

The budget modifications, which were approved during a “markup,” represent the first step in a multistep process toward producing the strategic forces part of the 2008 defense budget. At least seven more steps remain.

On one of the more controversial decisions, Tauscher, D-Calif., said her subcommittee wants the National Nuclear Security Administration “to walk before they run” when it comes to modernizing nuclear weapons and building a new weapons production complex.

Thus, members voted unanimously to cut $45 million of the $119 million sought for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program. And the subcommittee eliminated a $25 million request for the new weapons complex.

Rather than proceeding at the pace the president wants, Tauscher said her subcommittee wants “to create a public discussion about future requirements for nuclear weapons.” To that end, members approved appointing a commission to re-evaluate the U.S. strategic posture.

The $764 million in cuts to missile defense programs come from an $8.9 billion budget request.

Tauscher said her subcommittee took aim at “programs that are either less mature or higher risk.”

Among the cuts: $400 million of the $517 million requested for the Airborne Laser program and $160 million from missile defenses to be installed in Europe. Bush had requested about $300 million.

The subcommittee called for an “independent study” of the politics and cost of the Bush administration’s plan to install a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, and for a study of the future of the Missile Defense Agency.

The subcommittee added money to “programs that offer near-term war-fighter benefits,” including $66 million for the Navy’s Aegis ship-based missile defenses and $12 million for Army Patriot Advanced Capability-3 air defense systems.

Worried that military space programs cannot be completed on schedule and within budget, the subcommittee cut $200 million from the Alternate Infrared Satellite System, $150 million from the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) III and $80 million from High Integrity GPS.

However, subcommittee members added $130 million for space situational awareness and space control capabilities, $100 million to the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite and another $100 million to the Space-Based Infrared System High.

Despite a unanimous vote for the budget changes, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., told Tauscher he is “very concerned about the deep cuts in missile defense.” Franks warned that the United States is confronting nuclear weapons, “the most dangerous weapons ever invented,” yet is still debating whether to build a missile defense system.

He said he was hopeful that the full House Armed Services Committee would restore $764 million the subcommittee cut from missile defense.

Tauscher replied that cutting $764 million from a nearly $9 billion request “is not a deep cut.” She said Congress needs to restore “accountability and fiscal responsibility.”

Tauscher said the nation needs a missile defense system, “one that works,” and she ridiculed the program’s testing regimen.

“I wish when I was in school that I could have made up the test, given myself the test and then graded it,” she said.

Franks voted with Tauscher and all other subcommittee members to approve the markup — including the cuts to missile defense