I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2667 
To restrict the use of funds for the long-range standoff weapon until the 
Secretary of Defense completes a Nuclear Posture Review that includes 
an assessment of the capabilities and effects of the use of the long- 
range standoff weapon, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 25, 2017 
Mr. BLUMENAUER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To restrict the use of funds for the long-range standoff 
weapon until the Secretary of Defense completes a Nu-
clear Posture Review that includes an assessment of 
the capabilities and effects of the use of the long-range 
standoff weapon, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nuclear Cruise Missile 
Reconsideration Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) The United States is currently developing a 
new nuclear-armed air-launched cruise missile, the 
long-range standoff weapon. 
(2) When asked by the Committee on Armed 
Services of the Senate before his confirmation hear-
ing about his support for the long-range standoff 
weapon, Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis stat-
ed, ‘‘I will carefully examine the utility and advis-
ability of this program within existing nuclear doc-
trine.’’. 
(3) When asked during his confirmation hear-
ing whether he would commit to support continued 
development of the long-range standoff weapon, Sec-
retary Mattis emphasized the need to examine its 
‘‘deterrent capability’’. 
(4) The United States already plans to con-
struct a new fleet of nuclear-capable penetrating 
long-range strike bombers, known as the B–21, that 
will carry the refurbished B61 nuclear gravity bomb. 
(5) The range and lethality of existing United 
States strategic bombers is being improved by the 
addition of the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Mis-
sile, a long-range conventionally armed air-launched 
cruise missile. The B–21 bomber will also be armed 
with this missile. 
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(6) According to public reports, the long-range 
standoff weapon will be a far more precise version 
of its predecessor. 
(7) General James E. Cartwright, former head 
of United States Strategic Command, warned in 
2016 that ‘‘bring[ing] real precision to [nuclear] 
weapons’’ could ‘‘make them more usable’’. 
(8) In a 2014 letter to the Committee on Ap-
propriations of the Senate, Under Secretary of De-
fense Frank Kendall explained that the long-range 
standoff weapon could have utility ‘‘[b]eyond deter-
rence’’. 
(9) In a 2016 statement before the Sub-
committee on Strategic Forces of the Committee on 
Armed Services of the House of Representatives, As-
sistant Secretary of Defense Robert Scher asserted 
that the long-range standoff weapon would provide 
the United States with the ability ‘‘to respond pro-
portionately to a limited nuclear attack’’. 
(10) In a 2013 article in the Telegraph, Philip 
Hammond, then-Defense Secretary of the United 
Kingdom explained, ‘‘A cruise-based deterrent would 
carry significant risk of miscalculation and unin-
tended escalation.’’. 
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(11) In a 2015 article in the Washington Post, 
former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry and 
former Assistant Secretary of Defense Andrew 
Weber wrote, ‘‘Because they can be launched with-
out warning and come in both nuclear and conven-
tional variants, cruise missiles are a uniquely desta-
bilizing type of weapon.’’. 
SEC. 3. RESTRICTION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR LONG-RANGE 
STANDOFF WEAPON. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, in any fiscal year, the Secretary of Defense 
may not obligate or expend more than $95,600,000 on de-
velopment of the long-range standoff weapon or any other 
nuclear-capable air-launched cruise missile, and the Sec-
retary of Energy may not obligate or expend more than 
$220,253,000 on the life extension program for the W80– 
4 warhead, until the Secretary of Defense, in consultation 
with the heads of other relevant Federal agencies, submits 
to the appropriate congressional committees a Nuclear 
Posture Review that includes a detailed and specific as-
sessment of the following: 
(1) The anticipated capabilities of the long- 
range standoff weapon to hold targets at risk beyond 
other already existing and planned nuclear-capable 
delivery systems. 
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(2) The anticipated ability of the long-range 
standoff weapon to elude adversary integrated air 
and missile defenses compared to the B–21 bomber. 
(3) The anticipated effect of the long-range 
standoff weapon on strategic stability relative to 
other nuclear-armed countries. 
(4) The anticipated effect of the long-range 
standoff weapon on the offensive nuclear weapons 
capabilities and programs of other nuclear-armed 
countries. 
(5) The anticipated effect of the long-range 
standoff weapon on the response of other nuclear- 
armed countries to proposals to decrease or halt the 
growth of their nuclear stockpiles. 
(6) The anticipated effect of the long-range 
standoff weapon on the threshold for the use of nu-
clear weapons. 
(b) FORM.—The Nuclear Posture Review required by 
subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form but 
may include a classified annex. 
(c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-
sional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Armed Services and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and 
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(2) the Committee on Armed Services and the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep-
resentatives. 
Æ 
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