CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS EYE LONG GAME TO DELAY MILITARY’S ICBM PROGRAM – By Sara Sirota (The Intercept) / Sept 1 2021
Reps. John Garamendi and Ro Khanna are planning for an eventual floor vote on whether to pause the replacement of the nuclear weapon system.
CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS John Garamendi and Ro Khanna on Wednesday are setting the stage for a floor vote later this year that would compel each member of the House of Representatives to reveal where they stand on the military’s plan to build a brand new intercontinental ballistic missile system, or ICBM. The new system is slated to begin replacing the Cold War-era Minuteman III starting in 2029.
The two lawmakers are planning to offer an amendment during Wednesday’s House Armed Services Committee’s markup of the annual defense authorization bill that would pause work on the multibillion-dollar Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, or GBSD, and instead extend the service life of Minuteman III for another 20 years. Garamendi said the goal of introducing the amendment during the session is to raise awareness among the panel’s more hawkish members, who are unlikely to support it; Khanna told The Intercept they will then promptly withdraw their proposal and reintroduce it later this year when the bill comes for a final vote on the House floor.
They’re also considering the same strategy for two other amendments that push back against the Defense Department’s massive nuclear modernization project, according to a congressional aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity. One would zero out funding for the W87-1 warhead, which will be used with the new missiles, and another would remove a requirement for the Energy Department to produce at least 80 plutonium pits per year by 2030; plutonium is a core material that’s needed for nuclear weapons.
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