An amendment proposed by Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), a longtime anti-nuclear advocate, to postpone Sentinel funding from a $150 billion defense reconciliation bill marked up in the House Armed Services Committee narrowly failed on Tuesday.
Garamendi’s amendment was killed, 25-30, while the overall bill advanced, 35-21, to the House Budget Committee.
Sentinel, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) currently being built by Northrop Grumman [NOC], received $1.5 billion in “risk reduction” funding in the
bill released over the weekend. Garamendi, a longtime anti-nuclear advocate, offered an amendment that would withhold the $1.5 billion line item for Sentinel risk reduction until Milestone B is approved.
Milestone B approval means the program can enter the engineering, manufacturing and development phase. While the Sentinel program received Milestone B approval in 2020, the approval was rescinded when the Air Force notified Congress last year that the program breached Nunn-McCurdy cost guidelines, or went 25% over budget.
Garamendi called Sentinel “extraordinarily expensive,” adding “I’m not exactly sure what risk reduction means.”