Smarter Approaches to Nuclear Expenditures Act
Bill: S.1862 | Sponsor: Sen. Markey, Edward J. (D-MA)
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Smarter Approaches to Nuclear Expenditures Act
This bill imposes prohibitions and limitations on funding for various Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Energy (DOE) weapons programs.
Weapons subjected to prohibitions or limitations under this bill include Columbia-class submarines, intercontinental ballistic missiles, low-yield nuclear warheads, and space-based missile defense systems.
The bill also requires various reports to Congress, including a joint report from DOD and DOE outlining the estimated cost savings resulting from this bill.

To reduce spending on nuclear weapons and related defense spending and 
    to prohibit the procurement and deployment of low-yield nuclear 
                   warheads, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Smarter Approaches to Nuclear 
Expenditures Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The United States continues to maintain an excessively 
        large and costly arsenal of nuclear delivery systems and 
        warheads that are a holdover from the Cold War.
            (2) The current nuclear arsenal of the United States 
        includes approximately 3,800 total nuclear warheads in its 
        military stockpile, of which approximately 1,750 are deployed 
        with five delivery components: land-based intercontinental 
        ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, 
        long-range strategic bomber aircraft armed with nuclear gravity 
        bombs, long-range strategic bomber aircraft armed with nuclear-
        armed air-launched cruise missiles, and short-range fighter 
        aircraft that can deliver nuclear gravity bombs. The strategic 
        bomber fleet of the United States comprises 87 B-52 and 20 B-2 
        aircraft, over 60 of which contribute to the nuclear mission. 
        The United States also maintains 400 intercontinental ballistic 
        missiles and 14 Ohio-class submarines, up to 12 of which are 
        deployed. Each of those submarines is armed with approximately 
        90 nuclear warheads.
            (3) Between fiscal years 2021 and 2030, the United States 
        will spend an estimated $634,000,000,000 to maintain and 
        recapitalize its nuclear force, according to a January 2019 
        estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, an increase of 
        $140,000,000,000 from the Congressional Budget Office's 2019 
        estimate, with 36 percent of that additional cost stemming 
        ``mainly from new plans for modernizing [the Department of 
        Energy's] production facilities and from [the Department of 
        Defense's] modernization programs moving more fully into 
        production''.
            (4) Adjusted for inflation, the Congressional Budget Office 
        estimates that the United States will spend $1,700,000,000,000 
        through fiscal year 2046 on new nuclear weapons and 
        modernization and infrastructure programs.
            (5) Inaccurate budget forecasting is likely to continue to 
        plague the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, 
        as evidenced by the fiscal year 2021 budget request of the 
        President for the National Nuclear Security Administration 
        ``Weapon Activities'' account, which far exceeded what the 
        National Nuclear Security Administration had projected in its 
        fiscal year 2020 request and what it had projected in previous 
        years.
            (6) The projected growth in nuclear weapons spending is 
        coming due as the Department of Defense is seeking to replace 
        large portions of its conventional forces to better compete 
        with the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China 
        and as internal and external fiscal pressures are likely to 
        limit the growth of, and perhaps reduce, military spending. As 
        then-Air Force Chief of Staff General Dave Goldfein said in 
        2020, ``I think a debate is that this will be the first time 
        that the nation has tried to simultaneously modernize the 
        nuclear enterprise while it's trying to modernize an aging 
        conventional enterprise. The current budget does not allow you 
        to do both.''.
            (7) In 2017, the Government Accountability Office concluded 
        that National Nuclear Security Administration's budget 
        forecasts for out-year spending downplayed the fact that the 
        agency lacked the resources to complete multiple, simultaneous 
        billion dollar modernization projects and recommended that the 
        National Nuclear Security Administration consider ``deferring 
        the start of or cancelling specific modernization programs''.
            (8) According to the Government Accountability Office, the 
        National Nuclear Security Administration has still not factored 
        affordability concerns into its planning as was recommended by 
        the Government Accountability Office in 2017, with the warning 
        that ``it is essential for NNSA to present information to 
        Congress and other key decision maker indicating whether the 
        agency has prioritized certain modernization programs or 
        considered trade-offs (such as deferring or cancelling specific 
        modernization programs)''.
            (9) A December 2020 Congressional Budget Office analysis 
        showed that the projected costs of nuclear forces over the next 
        decade can be reduced by $12,400,000,000 to $13,600,000,000 by 
        trimming back current plans, while still maintaining a triad of 
        delivery systems. Even larger savings would accrue over the 
        subsequent decade.
            (10) The Department of Defense's June 2013 nuclear policy 
        guidance entitled ``Report on Nuclear Employment Strategy of 
        the United States'' found that force levels under the April 
        2010 Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and 
        Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms between the United 
        States and the Russian Federation (commonly known as the ``New 
        START Treaty'') ``are more than adequate for what the United 
        States needs to fulfill its national security objectives'' and 
        can be reduced by up to \1/3\ below levels under the New START 
        Treaty to 1,000 to 1,100 warheads.
            (11) Former President Trump expanded the role of, and 
        spending on, nuclear weapons in United States policy at the 
        same time that he withdrew from, unsigned, or otherwise 
        terminated a series of important arms control and 
        nonproliferation agreements.

SEC. 3. REDUCTIONS IN NUCLEAR FORCES.

    (a) Reduction of Nuclear-Armed Submarines.--Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, none of the funds authorized to be appropriated 
or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2022 or any fiscal year 
thereafter for the Department of Defense may be obligated or expended 
for purchasing more than eight Columbia-class submarines.
    (b) Reduction of Ground-Based Missiles.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, beginning in fiscal year 2022, the forces of the Air 
Force shall include not more than 150 intercontinental ballistic 
missiles.
    (c) Reduction of Deployed Strategic Warheads.--Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, beginning in fiscal year 2022, the forces of 
the United States Military shall include not more than 1,000 deployed 
strategic warheads, as that term is defined in the New START Treaty.
    (d) Limitation on New Long-Range Penetrating Bomber Aircraft.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds 
authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for any of 
fiscal years 2022 through 2028 for the Department of Defense may be 
obligated or expended for purchasing more than 80 B-21 long-range 
penetrating bomber aircraft.
    (e) Prohibition on F-35 Nuclear Mission.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, none of the funds authorized to be appropriated or 
otherwise made available for fiscal year 2022 or any fiscal year 
thereafter for the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy 
may be used to make the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft capable of 
carrying nuclear weapons.
    (f) Prohibition on New Air-Launched Cruise Missile.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds 
authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal 
year 2022 or any fiscal year thereafter for the Department of Defense 
or the Department of Energy may be obligated or expended for the 
research, development, test, and evaluation or procurement of the long-
range stand-off weapon or any other new air-launched cruise missile or 
for the W80 warhead life extension program.
    (g) Prohibition on New Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds 
authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal 
year 2022 or any fiscal year thereafter for the Department of Defense 
may be obligated or expended for the research, development, test, and 
evaluation or procurement of the ground-based strategic deterrent or 
any new intercontinental ballistic missile.
    (h) Termination of Uranium Processing Facility.--Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law, none of the funds authorized to be 
appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2022 or any 
fiscal year thereafter for the Department of Defense or the Department 
of Energy may be obligated or expended for the Uranium Processing 
Facility located at the Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, 
Tennessee.
    (i) Prohibition on Procurement and Deployment of New Low-Yield 
Warhead.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds 
authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal 
year 2022 or any fiscal year thereafter for the Department of Defense 
or the Department of Energy may be obligated or expended to deploy the 
W76-2 low-yield nuclear warhead or any other low-yield or nonstrategic 
nuclear warhead.
    (j) Prohibition on New Submarine-Launched Cruise Missile.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds 
authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal 
year 2022 or any fiscal year thereafter for the Department of Defense 
or the Department of Energy may be obligated or expended for the 
research, development, test, and evaluation or procurement of a new 
submarine-launched cruise missile capable of carrying a low-yield or 
nonstrategic nuclear warhead.
    (k) Limitation on Plutonium Pit Production.--Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, none of the funds authorized to be appropriated 
or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2022 or any fiscal year 
thereafter for the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy 
may be obligated or expended for achieving production of more than 30 
plutonium pits per year at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, 
New Mexico.
    (l) Limitation on W87-1 Warhead Procurement and Deployment.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds 
authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal 
year 2022 or any fiscal year thereafter for the Department of Defense 
or the Department of Energy may be obligated or expended for the 
procurement or deployment of the W87-1 warhead for use on any missile 
that can feasibly employ a W87 warhead.
    (m) Limitation on Sustainment of B83-1 Bomb.--Notwithstanding other 
provision of law, none of the funds authorized to be appropriated or 
otherwise made available for fiscal year 2022 or any fiscal year 
thereafter for the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy 
may be obligated or expended for the sustainment of the B83-1 bomb 
beyond the time at which confidence in the B61-12 stockpile is gained.
    (n) Prohibition on Space-Based Missile Defense.--Notwithstanding 
other provision of law, none of the funds authorized to be appropriated 
or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2022 or any fiscal year 
thereafter for the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy 
may be obligated or expended for the research, development, test, and 
evaluation or procurement of a space-based missile defense system.
    (o) Prohibition on the W-93 Warhead.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, none of the funds authorized to be appropriated or 
otherwise made available for fiscal year 2022 or any fiscal year 
thereafter for the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy 
may be obligated or expended for the procurement and deployment of a W-
93 warhead on a submarine launched ballistic missile.

SEC. 4. REPORTS REQUIRED.

    (a) Initial Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 
Energy shall jointly submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a 
report outlining the plan of each Secretary to carry out section 3.
    (b) Annual Report.--Not later than March 1, 2022, and annually 
thereafter, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy shall 
jointly submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report 
outlining the plan of each Secretary to carry out section 3, including 
any updates to previously submitted reports.
    (c) Annual Nuclear Weapons Accounting.--Not later than September 
30, 2022, and annually thereafter, the President shall transmit to the 
appropriate committees of Congress a report containing a comprehensive 
accounting by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget of 
the amounts obligated and expended by the Federal Government for each 
nuclear weapon and related nuclear program during--
            (1) the fiscal year covered by the report; and
            (2) the life cycle of such weapon or program.
    (d) Cost Estimate Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the 
Secretary of Energy shall jointly submit to the appropriate committees 
of Congress a report outlining the estimated cost savings that result 
from carrying out section 3.
    (e) Report on Funding National Defense Strategy.--Not later than 
180 days after the publication of a National Defense Strategy under 
section 113(g) of title 10, United States Code, the Secretary of 
Defense shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report 
explaining how the Secretary proposes to fund the National Defense 
Strategy under different levels of projected defense spending, 
including scenarios in which--
            (1) anticipated cost savings from reform do not 
        materialize; or
            (2) defense spending decreases to the levels specified by 
        the Budget Control Act of 2011 (Public Law 112-25; 125 Stat. 
        240).
    (f) Modification of Period To Be Covered by Estimates of Costs 
Relating to Nuclear Weapons.--Section 1043 of the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Public Law 112-81; 125 Stat. 
1576), as most recently amended by section 1670 of the John S. McCain 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 
115-232; 132 Stat. 2157), is further amended in subsections (a)(2)(F) 
and (b)(1)(A) by striking ``10-year period'' each place it appears and 
inserting ``25-year period''.
    (g) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on 
        Foreign Relations, the Committee on Appropriations, and the 
        Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on 
        Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee 
        on Energy and Commerce, and the Committee on Natural Resources 
        of the House of Representatives.
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