Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) on Monday reintroduced a bill that aims to save $73 billion over the next decade through cuts to nuclear weapons programs, to include canceling development of new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) and submarine-launched cruise missiles.
The Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act, which has been proposed several times in recent years, would also prohibit space-based missile defense efforts and remove the F-35’s nuclear-based mission.
“President Biden can create a future safe from nuclear weapons, not for them, by stopping production of unnecessary nuclear weapons acquisition programs,” Markey said in a statement. “The United States can deter our adversaries and reassure our allies without making an insane investment in nuclear weapons overkill, including capabilities that may invite rather than prevent a nuclear exchange.”
While the bill is unlikely to gain the support needed to pass, the legislation does signal progressive lawmakers’ emphasis on nuclear weapons spending reduction as a key piece of the push for a lower defense spending topline.
The lawmakers estimate that $13.6 billion in savings could come from prohibiting the fielding of new low-yield nuclear warheads, the banning of space-based missile defense, the F-35 adjustment as well as cutting the purchase of Columbia-class submarines from 12 to eight, cutting the existing ICBM from 400 to 150 and reducing the number of deployed strategic warheads from 1,500 to 1,000 weapons.
The bill would also save another $22.6 billion through the canceling of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) program to develop new ICBMs and the new sea-launched cruise missile (N-SLCM) effort.
Additional savings under the SANE Act would come from canceling development of a new air-launched cruise missile, limiting the plutonium pit production target to 30 per year and prohibiting funds for a new nuclear processing facility.
“We should not be investing trillions of dollars of our budget on an outdated and irresponsible nuclear arsenal. There are far more important programs and initiatives that will actually help and protect the American people. This legislation will put us on the path towards a safer, nuclear-free future,” Blumenauer said in a statement.
In March, Markey and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, introduced a separate bill to stop GBSD development and redirect the funds toward developing a universal coronavirus vaccine and other disease research (Defense Daily, March 26).
GBSD, which is intended to replace the current Minuteman III ICBMs, is set to be built by Northrop Grumman [NOC] with flight tests scheduled to begin in FY ‘24
The SANE Act is co-sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Eleanor Homes Norton (D-D.C.), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).