By George Lobsenz
Saying the administration wanted to reverse a “slow but steady decline” in support for the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile and production complex, Vice President Joseph Biden revealed Friday that President Obama would propose a $600 million hike for the Energy Department’s weapons program in fiscal year 2011 so it can help carry out his nuclear security agenda.
In an op-ed in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, Biden also said Obama would seek a total $5 billion increase over the next five years for the weapons labs and production facilities operated by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semi-autonomous DoE agency that manages the department’s nuclear weapons complex.
Biden said the NNSA facilities–particularly its weapons laboratories–were not only critical to maintaining the nation’s nuclear arsenal, but provided the vital expertise needed to pursue Obama’s nonproliferation goals, including expanded efforts to secure vulnerable nuclear materials around the world. He also said the additional money would help pay for cleanup of aging facilities and contamination at many weapons sites.
The funding boost for the weapons complex follows demands by congressional Republicans that the administration boost support for maintaining and modernizing the nation’s nuclear arsenal if it wanted GOP votes for the arms control agreement that Obama is negotiating with the Russians and for ratification of nonproliferation and nuclear test ban treaties.
However, the increase is likely to draw opposition from antinuclear and arms control groups who oppose modernization of warheads and the weapons complex.
“Among the many challenges our administration inherited was the slow but steady decline in support for our nuclear stockpile and infrastructure, and for our highly trained nuclear work force,” Biden wrote. “For almost a decade, our laboratories and facilities have been underfunded and undervalued. The consequences of this neglect–like the growing shortage of skilled nuclear scientists and engineers and the aging of critical facilities–have largely escaped public notice.
“The budget we will submit to Congress on Monday both reverses this decline and enables us to implement the president’s nuclear-security agenda,” he said. “The same skilled nuclear experts who maintain our arsenal play a key role in guaranteeing our country’s security now and for the future.
“State-of-the art facilities, and highly trained and motivated people, allow us to maintain our arsenal without testing. They will help meet the president’s goal of securing vulnerable nuclear materials world-wide in the coming years, and enable us to track and thwart nuclear trafficking, verify weapons reductions, and to develop tomorrow’s cutting- edge technologies for our security and prosperity.”
Biden said the administration would seek $7 billion in fiscal 2011 for NNSA’s weapons program, which received $6.38 billion from Congress in the current fiscal year.
While the $7 billion request would boost NNSA’s budget by 10 percent, internal DoE documents obtained by sister publication The Energy Daily show that DoE initially asked the White House Office of Management and Budget for slightly more than that.
The documents show DoE originally asked for $7.094 billion and that OMB initially responded with a proposal for $6.879 billion. OMB then added another $130 million, making for a fiscal year 2011 request of $7.009 billion.